The Clash of the Elements
by Angrydude5150
Summary: An ancient evil threatens the world. The only thing standing between it and total destruction are the Teen Titans and a mysterious winged warrior named Xander Blade. [Updated]
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. This is my first fic. Read and review please. ENOUGH STALLING!!! LET'S CUT TO THE CHASE!!  
  
Chapter 1: Prologue  
  
The city was in ruin. Everywhere buildings burned and crumbled, falling to the ground like unstable jenga towers. The city appeared to have been involved in a war for years, when in reality all this happened in a mere half hour. Any lost soul unlucky enough to pass through the city now could say that they had seen the Apocalypse. Bodies were scattered all over the ground, lying in pools of blood that covered the ground like puddles after a heavy shower. Everyone in the city was either dead and lying on the ground, or had just mysteriously disappeared. No one was left alive in the city. Not at first glance, anyway.  
The only thing that could possibly be more disturbing than the presence of the corpses was the presence of the strange black creatures lurking about. These creatures were black all over and had blowing yellow eyes. Each one stood at exactly 5' 6" and was thin and muscular (if you can't get an image, think heartless from Kingdom Hearts 2, and if you still can't get an image, just make up your own). Along with this, the creatures also had auras of darkness emanating from them. All of the creatures also carried weapons: swords, guns, clawed fingers, etc. These strange shadow creatures are vicious and merciless. They possess no fear and have only two main objectives: destruction and serving their master.  
But these mindless killers aren't the only ones left "living" in the city. 5 others were there, 4 of which were armored knights that had wings. The green warrior was 5' 9" and was muscular, but not bulky. The silver knight standing beside him was 5' 8" and had more lustrous armor than the rest. He also had two giant shotels on his back (think Gundam Sandrock Custom from Endless Waltz). The third warrior wore bronze armor and also stood at 5' 8". He was little less muscular than the others, but still had enough to look strong. The last knight was a warrior whose armor was as black as the night. He blended in so well with the darkness that only the flickering flames from the burning buildings could show he was still there.  
The fifth and last person in the city was a 15-year-old boy. He had dark blue jeans and had his short black hair spiked up. The gray shirt he wore was ripped and blood stained, just like his leather jacket, which was missing the right sleeve. He was kneeling on the ground, clutching his bleeding right arm and gritting his teeth in pain. The cuts and bruises all over his body, as well as the katana he held in his right hand, were evidence that he had fought ...and lost.  
"Can I kill him now?" whined the silver warrior "I don't think I can go another minute without slicing something!" The bronze warrior turned to him.

"Just be patient and wait" he replied calmly "Besides, you've tortured him enough. Just leave him be."

"Leave him be!?!? He's the last wing knight, the only person in the world who can stop us! We can't just leave him be!!!" exclaimed the green warrior.

"SHUT UP!! ALL OF YOU!!" yelled the dark knight.

There was a sudden silence in the shattered city. Even the shadow creatures stopped moving at the sound of the dark warrior's voice. Turning to the bronze warrior, he said, "The boy has to die", said the warrior, "and he will, whether you like it or not".

"But Daemos, hasn't he suffered enough?"

"Understand, Thorne, that he is a wing knight, the only warrior who has the potential to stop us. To allow him to live would be to dig our own graves." Daemos answered.

"But..."

"Thorne!" Daemos said, cutting him off "Not all things on this planet are honorable. I gave you the chance to live by joining with me, and you knew the consequences that came with allying with me. Yet you still don't understand. You should have learned by now, especially when you fight by my side, that not all of the battles you fight will be honorable!" Thorne, in defeat, merely bowed his head.

"Of course, I understand. Sorry to waste time like that. If you don't mind, I'm going to leave now. You guys can just catch up to me later, right?" and before they could answer, he turned around, opened his wings and flew off.

"Wuss" said the silver knight.

"Silo!" Daemos yelled.

"Huh?" the silver knight absent-mindedly responded.

"Have the Specters pull out of the city now", ordered Daemos, "I'm going to have one final word with our friend here".

"Awww...but I wanted to kill him!" whined Silo.

"Didn't I just tell you to do something? I did, didn't I?" Daemos said in an annoyed tone "I suggest that you get on that now because the next time I have to repeat myself, I won't be as understanding." Finally getting the point, Silo flew up.

"You heard him!" he told the Specters. "All of you get your asses outta here, now!" One by one, the Specters walked into the shadows, disappearing into the darkness.

"As for you, Corona", Daemos said to the green warrior, "when all the Specters are out of the city, nuke it." Corona grinned at the sound of the last two words.

"My pleasure" he replied. After giving Corona his orders, Daemos turned to the boy on the ground that they had all been ignoring for the past five minutes. As Daemos walked towards him, he looked up and the two met eyes. While Daemos' eyes showed amusement in watching the boy suffer, the boy's eyes were full of anger and hate.

"We beat the crap out of you. We Drove your face into the ground, immobilized your right arm, and even broke a few of your ribs," Daemos said as he continued walking slowly towards him, "and yet you still show no fear. You may not have had the strength of a wing knight, but at least you had the mind & heart of one". Then the boy spoke in a weak but still audible voice.

"You...destroyed my home town...killed my friends...and my family..." Daemos couldn't help but notice that the boy seemed to be gathering energy. But since it was a small amount, he didn't really care. "I...will...make...you...pay..." the boy continued, "someday...I'll make...you ...pay..." This caused Daemos to chuckle, and eventually laugh. Silo flew down beside Daemos.

"Hey Daemos" he said, "they've all pulled out. Now can we please leave? This place is boring."

"Excellent" said the dark warrior "well done, Silo. Now we can leave" Daemos opened up his wings and flew up in the same direction as Thorne. Silo followed suit.

"See you later, loser!" he yelled down to the boy "it was fun, in an 'I kicked your ass' kind of way!" It didn't take long for the young man to realize that Corona wasn't with them. He looked up and, sure enough, there was Corona, hovering over him while charging an energy blast over his head. The energy grew at an alarming rate, and it didn't look like Corona was going to stop charging for a long time. But it grew to be about twice his size, he compressed it into the size of a tennis ball in his left hand.

"Any last words, Xander Blade?" Corona yelled down. The boy (Xander) finally mustered enough strength to get up on his feet. Letting go of his right arm, he looked up to Corona, charged up his energy one last time before calmly speaking.

"Come on, Corona. Give me your best shot" he just barely held his volume on the last part, while at the same time struggling to maintain his balance. Corona grinned.

"Alright, but just remember you asked for it!" he yelled down. He then cupped his hands, pointed it down, and after taking one last quick charge, fired off a giant pillar of energy. It got closer and closer to the ground, toward Xander, until finally, it hit.

Raven's opened her eyes after she hit the floor. She was meditating when she had that strange and horrifying dream. She stayed on the ground for a while, trying to recall what had happened in that dream when...

"You alright?" Raven looked up to see a concerned Beast Boy.

"I'll be fine" she replied. Beast boy helped her up, only to have her fall down again when he let go of her arm. Luckily, he caught her again before she hit the ground.

"You'll be fine, huh?" Beast Boy teased. Hiding a blush, Raven replied,

"I will be fine, just let me stand". "Alright, alright, don't have a cow!" BB replied. He slowly backed away, allowing Raven to stand up.

"Hey! When you finish making out over there, feel free to come over to the couch so I can finish pounding your face into the ground!" Cyborg yelled from the couch. BB let out a small blush and rubbed the back of his head, before returning to the couch to continue playing Soul Calibur 2 with Cyborg (one of the best games ever). Raven looked around the living room, looking for something to sooth her mind. She saw Robin talking to Starfire at the window. No one could hear what he or she was talking about, but Robin must've said something funny because Starfire started giggling.

'I wonder when they'll admit their feelings for each other' she thought, 'But who am I to talk about revealing feelings' she thought as she took a quick glance at Beast Boy. She continued look around, when something on the table caught her eye. It was a newspaper with a headline that read Vigil Held at City Square to Remember Maverick City Disaster. She remembered now. It was two years ago that Maverick City, a large, busy, highly populated city, was attacked and totally decimated. There were no survivors and all the buildings had burned to the ground, with only a few walls left standing. When investigators from the government went there, they found al large amount of radioactivity, so they assumed that this was the work of a terrorist with an atomic bomb. But no one was ever found guilty, and to this day it is still a mystery as to how and why Maverick City blew up. Raven had gone to the ruins a year ago when the titans were hunting down a group of rogue robots. Then it hit her. The place in her dream looked exactly like one of the places she had seen at the city ruins! Could her dream have been a vision of what really happened that sad day two years ago? Before she could piece anymore pieces together, Robin's miniature COM link alarmed, as did everybody else's. The big screen changed, interrupting Cyborg and BB's game. Cyborg threw down his controller

"Aw man! I was just about to score a knock out! When I get my hands on whoever decided to cause trouble I'm gonna-"

"There's a disturbance on the bridge" Robin said, cutting of Cyborg's ranting.

"The bridge huh? Let's make this quick, I've got some things I need to think on," said Raven.

Robin turned off the screen and faced the other Titans. "You guys ready?" he asked. Everyone nodded. "Alright then", Robin said, "let's go kick some ass."

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. I'll update a.s.a.p. , but you got to review so I know what's wrong with it. Farewell till then.


	2. Battle on the Bridge

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. But I'm pretty sure you knew that already.  
  
I'd like to say thanks to all who reviewed. I appreciate it, especially your honesty. I thank you. ENOUGH USELESS JABBER! TO THE MAIN EVENT!! ARE YOU READY???????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
HELL YEAH!  
  
Chapter 2: Battle on the Bridge  
Everyone on the bridge was in panic, and for good reason, too. In the blink of an eye, 100 black creatures armed with all sorts of weapons walked out of the shadows. As soon as they appeared, they began wrecking everything their glowing yellow eyes could see. Cars were tipped over & burning, and a few of the suspension wires had been cut. The creatures continued their merciless onslaught, destroying objects and attacking any people who got in their way.  
All the people unlucky enough to be on the bridge at the time were now fleeing for their lives. The creatures continued to pursue the fleeing masses like beasts on the hunt.  
One small boy tripped on his shoelace and hit the ground hard. His shin hit a piece of chipped off concrete, fracturing it instantly. The boy clutched his leg in pain, crying out for his mother.  
"Billy!" the boy's mother yelled out. She had heard his crying and was now struggling to get through the shoving crowds. She tried to tell them to let her through, bet her voice was drowned out by the other screams of panic.  
"Mommy!" he screamed, "Help me!" The boy was now crying and bawling in pain, grabbing his leg and rolling around on the ground. He looked up and he could see his mother fighting her way through the crowd to get to her.  
'Almost there' she thought. The boy's mother had almost made it to him, when one of the creatures appeared behind her son. Then, the shadow grabbed the boy in the neck and started strangling him. Add to the fact that the creature had clawed fingers and one can imagine the boy's pain. He was only ten. As active as he was, he had nowhere near enough strength to fight off a strong creature, let alone stop it from strangling him and piercing him in the neck.  
"No!!!!!!!" yelled his mother "Please stop! He's only a little boy! More than that he's my son!" tears rolled down her cheeks as each word came screaming out of her mouth.  
"Are you expecting me to care?" hissed the shadow being. It then looked at the woman with its glowing yellow eyes. "It is not my fault that he is a weakling little boy. If he truly deserves to live, he should be strong enough to fight for his right to live. But as you can see here, that is not the case." The creature then hit the boy over the head, knocking him unconscious. He looked back to the kid's mother "His wiggling was pissing me off. You've got a very irritating son, soon to be a very dead one. But don't worry, I'll end you're misery as soon as I end his." The being then materialized a black sword in his free hand and pointed the blade to the boy, preparing to stab him.  
The mother cried and prayed to any force that would listen to her. Her prayers were answered with a light, a blue light that did not come from the sky, but from behind the being. It hit the creature hard, sending it flying off the bridge and taking the boy with it. As the creature was falling off the bridge, it let go of the boy. A black platform materialized in thin air, catching the boy before he hit the water. The platform brought the kid back up to the bridge next to his mother.  
"Nice catch Raven" said Robin "Alright. Beast Boy, get them out of here as fast as you can."  
"Fast. OK, got it," replied beast boy. He then morphed into a horse and ran up next to the kid and his mom, signaling for them to get on. The mother nodded, picking up her knocked out son and getting on BB's back. They then ran off towards the exit of the bridge, dodging any creatures that got in their way.  
The creature that had been knocked off the bridge somehow managed to jump back onto the bridge and was now staring down his attackers.  
"So, you must be the Teen Titans." It said with a sneer.  
"And you must be the guys who ended my winning streak", replied Cyborg while charging up his sonic cannon "nice to meet you".  
"Alright you maniacs", said Robin "you've got one chance to leave. If you choose not to take it, that's fine with me. Just don't expect a second opportunity". He cracked his knuckles at the end of his threat. The creature looked at Robin for a few seconds before suddenly breaking out into a maniacal laugh that sounded like a hundred souls shrieking and laughing at the same time. It was so disturbing that even Raven shuddered.  
"The Specter back down from no enemy, whether it be man, woman, or even some extra terrestrial freak girl" he said, pointing to Starfire.  
"If I am a freak then you are a Vlorbian Guardnog!!!" Starfire yelled back with glowing green eyes and star bolts ready to blow up the creature. If Raven had not held her back she would have gone ballistic on EVERYONES'S ass. The creature merely grinned. "Like I said, we're not leaving", he said. "Well, at least not until your dead and limbless, not necessarily in that order."  
"You're loss", said Robin. "Titans, GO!" he yelled out, not noticing that the creatures had surrounded them.  
  
In an abandoned warehouse by the seaport, a lone figure practices martial arts. He is a teenage boy, about 17, with a very muscular body, but not a bulky one, the body you'd expect to see on a martial artist (think Bruce Lee body, only a little bit bigger). He punches and kicks the empty air around him with skill and strength. He keeps striking, chaining all his moves together with split second precision, not stopping or sowing down for anything at all. Suddenly, halfway through a roundhouse kick, he comes to a stop.  
"Hey Akujin", he said, "Do you sense that?"  
"Yeah, I'm feeling it", answered a voice from the darkness. "I guess they finally decided to pop-up. Took them long enough." The boy smiled.  
"We'd better get going, I don't know how long the Titans can hold them back." He then picked up his sheathed katana, placed it on his belt, and put on his long black coat before getting on his motorcycle and riding off towards the bridge.  
  
It has been half an hour since the Titans began fighting against the strange shadow creatures that call themselves the Specters, and since the beginning, they had been on the defensive. Starfire was flying over the bridge, repeatedly looking behind her and firing star bolts at the creatures that chased her. One of the Specters jumped up from the bridge behind her and grabbed Starfire, pulling her back down to the ground. As soon as they hit the ground, a group of five had already surrounded her. She quickly fired a star bolt at the one that grabbed her and while she was distracted one of the others rushed at her with its sword.  
Luckily for her, Robin ran in and punched the Specter in the face, causing it to stagger before Robin delivered an uppercut to its chin, knocking him down. He then hit the nearest Specter with a spinning right kick and sent it flying before quickly tripping the nest one with a sweeping low kick. While he had done all this, Starfire had charged at the other two and fired off two star bolts, each one hitting their target square in the chest. She then looked down to see a Specter sneaking up behind Robin. She fired a star bolt at the sneaking creature, knocking it off the bridge. She flew back down to Robin.  
"Thanks" said Robin.  
"You're welcome", replied Starfire happily. Her grin soon disappeared when she realized that they were now surrounded by 12 Specters. She backed up and wound up standing back to back with Robin, who had drawn his staff.  
"Go help the others, Star, I'll handle these guys", said Robin. As much as she didn't want to leave his side, Starfire could see Cyborg and Beast Boy being dog piled by a lot of Specters.  
"Okay" she said as she began flying away. "Be careful!" she yelled back. She looked back at her secret crush and saw him taunting the freaks to bring it on.  
Starfire looked at the huge pile that now covered Cyborg and BB. She began firing star bolts at the horde to get as many of the creatures off of them as possible. When she had removed about 9 of them, the pile got off the other two Titans and began to attack Starfire. 5 of the Specters who were armed with machine guns began firing wildly at Starfire. Starfire closed her eyes and put her arms up in defense, when a black shield came up out of the ground and stopped the bullets. Starfire and the Specters looked at the shield in a moment of confusion when they heard a voice.  
"Do it now! Hurry!"  
It was Raven. The Specters looked behind them where Cyborg and beast boy had gotten back up. Cyborg fired a sonic blast in a sweeping motion, taking out all the confused creatures.  
"BOOYA! 14 in one shot!" said Cyborg. "Top that, Creature Feature."  
"Tch, no problem." said BB. He then morphed into a rhino and began charging all over the place, taking out any Specters who got in the way. But he was quickly stopped when one of the Specters grabbed his horn and tossed him aside, causing him to morph back to his normal form.  
"Not as easy as I thought it would be", said BB. Before he could get up, another one shoulder tackled him, sending him flying towards Cyborg. Cyborg caught him, but they both ended up on the ground. "Hehe, sorry?" said Beast Boy.  
Raven was using telekinetic shields to block the rapid sword slices of one of the Specters. She was doing fine until she was shot in the back. She fell to the ground, clutching her right side in pain. She tried to stand up, but when she did she just staggered back to the ground. Only this time, the pain seemed to be getting worse. She then saw the Specter that was slashing at her earlier.  
"Hurts, doesn't it?" it said. "It is designed for fighters like you, fighters who require perfect concentration and focus in order to perform their attacks. This bullet, called a Drill Bullet, digs into your body until it reaches the nearest muscle tissue. It then releases 25 half-inch talons and begins slowly tuning. First in one direction, then again in the other. Whenever you attempt to perform a mind technique or an energy attack, it quickens it turns until you submit and fall again. It slows down and waits for you to try to do it again. Also, while it's doing all this, it's also absorbing your life energy. It's truly one of master Daemos' greatest creations"  
'Daemos?' Raven thought. 'That was the name of the knight in my...' Her thoughts suddenly stopped as she felt the bullet continue to writhe and twist inside her body. 'It's so painful' was all she could think.  
"Let me ease your suffering, girl", said the looming Specter. It raised its sword, preparing to bring it down in a powerful vertical chop. The other Titans looked over to Raven, but none could get to her. Robin was in an inescapable deadlock with one of the Specters, Cyborg was cornered by a large group and firing like crazy to try and get out, and Beast Boy had been pinned down by multiple Specters. Starfire was flying towards her but was too far away. She wouldn't make it in time.  
"Raven, GET OUT OF THERE!!!" Robin yelled.  
"Get out of the way!" Cyborg yelled in frustration at the stalking creatures. He kept firing at them, but they kept blocking and deflecting his shots with their swords.  
"I...must...go...faster..." Starfire said to herself as she flew as fast as she could. But it seemed, even to her, that she would not make it.  
"Raven, no!" yelled Beast Boy. He tried to crawl out of the pile he was in, but there were too many, and he just wasn't strong enough. He reached out to her, tears beginning to form in his eyes. There was so much he wanted to tell her...  
"It's OVER!!!!" yelled the Specter as it brought down its sword to finally finish off Raven. Raven closed her eyes, and waited for the impact. But it never came. She opened her eyes and saw the sword, just centimeters away from her face. Why had it stopped, she wondered. She then saw a blade sticking out of the creature's chest. Its eyes had lost their yellow color and became a dull gray. Suddenly, the creature's body began to be absorbed into the blade, leaving only a small blue orb that vanished as quickly as it had appeared. She looked at the wielder of the blade and was surprised at what she saw.  
There stood a boy, wearing a long black coat that had a hood, which covered his face. The coat was zipped up at the upper body section (torso to lower collar bone). He wore black jeans and black zip-up Nike shoes (the lace less ones with the convenient zipper on them). He wore open finger gloves and a silver necklace with a cross on it. She also felt a large amount of energy emanating from him. But the strangest thing was the fact that he had wings on his back. Large, black wings that were slowly flapping, keeping him aloft.  
"Turn over please", he said calmly. 'Turn over? What' he going to do to me? I just met the guy and now he's telling me what to do?' she thought.  
"I'm here to help", he said, sensing her confusion, "now please turn over so I can get the bullet out". Raven hesitated before finally doing so. She then felt his warm palm on her back. "Just relax," he said. He then pulled his hand away slowly and multiple small lightning bolts appeared between his palm and her skin. Raven then felt the bullet slow down until it completely stopped twisting and began to move out of her flesh. She then felt the bullet completely exit the wound, leaving her weak but relieved.  
"Just relax now", he assured her, "the bullet took a lot of energy out of you and you need to rest."  
"But..." she tried to talk but was too tired and weak.  
"I'll handle the Specters. You rest." He said. 'How does he know about the Specters?' she wondered. She was too tired to think. She just closed her eyes and slept. She still heard her rescuers next words... "Alright then", she then heard him crack his neck, "who's next?"  
  
Thank you for reading. Please review. I AM ANGRYDUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 


	3. The Dark Stranger

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Please forgive me.  
  
The writing goes well. The reviews are great. I'm getting a lot of pushes for a Raven/Mystery character romance. I'll think about it. NOW, LET US BEGIN!!!!  
  
Chapter 3: The Dark Stranger  
  
The Titans were amazed. Just as the Specter was about to cut Raven in half, this hooded, winged stranger jumped out of the shadow behind it and thrust his katana into its chest. He then pulled the bullet out of Raven's back using weird lightning bolts. And now he was challenging the Specters.  
  
'Who is this guy, and what is he thinking?' thought Robin. Just then he realized that he was no longer in a weapon deadlock with his dark opponent. The creature he was clashing with had stopped pushing and had pulled away, and was now staring at the stranger with great hate. In fact, all the Specters had stopped to stare at the boy.  
  
"Alright then", said the hooded swordsman calmly, "whenever you guys feel like attacking, I'll be right here". All of the Specters immediately rushed towards this new opponent. 5 of the rushing creatures leapt towards him from five different sides, swords drawn and ready to strike. They each came down hard on him with powerful vertical slashes. The sound of metal striking metal echoed throughout the bridge. The boy had blocked all 5 swords with his katana and had them all in a weapon deadlock with him. The five that struck him were still in the air with only their swords pushing against the katana holding them up. Then with one thrust, the stranger sent all five of his attackers 20 feet upward. After sending them into the air, he jumped up, performing a one handed rising slash to the closest one, cutting it in half and absorbing its body at the same time. He then kicked off the blue orb that was left by the Specter he had just cut, bouncing over to the next. He slashed it as he flew past, opening his wings as he finished off the slice. He then flew over to the next one and performed a powerful punch that sent it crashing down to the ground where it landed right in front of Robin.  
  
"What is he?" wondered Robin. The stranger then sheathed his katana and fired two energy blasts towards the remaining airborne Specters. After absorbing the specters he had just defeated, he looked down to see 30 Specters flying towards him (they fly without wings, just to let you know). The stranger, still floating in the air, struck a powering up pose and began to glow a dark red. He then cupped his hands and pointed it downward, firing a large black energy bomb toward the oncoming Specters. All 30 of his attackers were completely disintegrated, leaving only those quickly disappearing blue orbs.  
  
"Man, I love doing that", he said to himself. Suddenly, he was hit in the back by something strong and explosive. A specter had snuck up behind and fired a small stinger missile at him at point blank range. The impact caused the boy to lose focus for a moment and quickly became swarmed by bullets from a group of gunning specters. Another specter on the ground fired at him with its bazooka causing a massive explosion and covering the area around the boy with a thick smoke cloud. The bazooka-wielding specter then began laughing maniacally, but was quickly cut off by a voice from behind it.  
  
"Hey, dead-eye, I think you missed." The specter swiftly turned around, only to be greeted by a very hard left punch. He was then sliced multiple times and absorbed before hitting the ground. "Hmm", thought the mystery warrior, "8 slashes in one second, I must be getting slow". Before he could react, a specter jumped out of the shadow behind him and was preparing to stab him, but was hit by a blue sonic blast.  
  
"Yo, Mystery Man!" shouted Cyborg, "mind if we join in?"  
  
"Not at all", he replied. The remaining Titans then rushed into the fray, their hope renewed by the appearance of this mysterious boy. Beast Boy morphed into a triceratops and began charging through the mass of specters again, only this time Cyborg was standing on his back firing at any specters that tried to take down Beast Boy. Starfire was dodging bullets and firing star bolts, when two specters suddenly grabbed her and put her arms in a tight arm lock preventing her from firing star bolts.  
  
"Get her in the knees!" yelled one of the creatures, "make her suffer!" The specters with guns reloaded and aimed at her knees.  
  
"My apologies", said Starfire, "but I must protest!" She then fired laser beams from her eyes that swept the firing line in front of her. She then flew upward and began spinning at a very fast rate. The specters that held her lost their grip and let go of her. As they were falling, Starfire grabbed their wrists. "Now it is my turn", she said as she flung the two creatures off the bridge. She had no time to rest, however, as she found herself being attacked by another rain of bullets. She shrieked as one of the bullets grazed her cheek and gave her a small cut. "This is most unpleasant", she said. She then flew downward while firing multiple star bolts and laser beams in alteration, taking out her attackers for the final time. Their bodies dissolved and evaporated, disappearing into thin air. Before she was able to do anything else, she was hit in the back by a flying kick that sent her flying into a wall. She tried to get up but her foot got stuck under a large piece of cement. As she struggled to get free, she looked up to see a very fast moving specter running towards her. She fired multiple eye beams to try and stop it, but the creature just kept dodging them. Just as the creature was about to stab Starfire, a whale fell from the sky and landed right on top of it. Starfire then felt the weight of the cement block removed from her leg.  
  
"You alright, Star?" asked Cyborg as he tossed the block behind him.  
  
"I am fine", replied Starfire, "thank you Cyborg!" Beast Boy then morphed from a whale into a lion and began slashing and pouncing on the surrounding specters. Cyborg and Starfire then split into two separate directions to do their own thrashing.  
  
Amidst all this chaos, no one remembered the still unconscious Raven. Everyone, except for a single scavenging specter. It walked slowly towards Raven until it was standing directly over her. It raised its sword over Raven and began to deliver a finishing stab. Just then, Robin hit the specter right between the eyes with a birdarang, causing it to stagger backwards before Robin did a gut punch-uppercut combo. Robin looked in front of him and there was the winged warrior fending off a large group of specters. He had sheathed his sword and was using only hand-to-hand combat. Robin was amazed by his skills.  
  
The stranger punched the specter in front of him, and then sent it flying with a powerful palm thrust. He then did a forward roll to avoid a vicious sword slash from his right side, followed by a sweeping kick that grounded his attacker. Before the specter could get up, the stranger flew upward and back down again, slamming his fist into the specter's chest and causing it to evaporate. He immediately began doing backward somersaults to avoid a barrage of bullets. After 4 complete flips, the boy stopped.  
  
"Enough!" he yelled to his attackers, and his hands began to glow with energy. He then began firing multiple energy blasts (the way Vegeta in Dragonball Z does when he fires multiple energy blasts after getting mad), each one hitting their mark. When the smoke cleared all the specters that were firing and/or charging towards him with swords had been blasted into nothing.  
  
"How did you do all that?" Robin asked the boy.  
  
"Long story. Tell you later," replied the stranger in between heavy breaths. It was then that Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire ran over to the two, panting and sweating like crazy.  
  
"I think that's the last of them", said Cyborg.  
  
"Not quite", replied the stranger.  
  
"What are you talking about? I don't see anymo-", Beast Boy was cut off by a strange rumbling sound and the shaking of the bridge.  
  
"THAT is what I'm talking about", said the stranger as he pointed to the edge. A large hand appeared and grabbed the ledge, and then another hand did the same. Suddenly, a head popped up and stared at the Titans and the stranger with large red eyes. The creature then pulled itself up completely revealing it to be a larger version of the specters. It stood 50 feet tall and had a large upper body that was supported by legs that were just as strong and muscular. Its head had two large horns that pointed backwards. Like the other specters, it was a pitch-black color.  
  
"Don't we ever get a break!?" screamed Beast Boy.  
  
"What is that monstrosity?" asked Starfire.  
  
"It's a Colossus", said the stranger, "It's a giant version of the regular sized soldier specters that we've been fighting. They're 8 times as large, 10 times as strong, and so much easier to hit," said the boy with a smile on his face. The colossus then let out a mighty roar. Everyone except the mystery warrior covered their ears to stop the sound from breaking their eardrums. The stranger merely stared at the creature. The Titans stood in fear in the shadow of this new gargantuan as it loomed over them. Suddenly the giant creature pulled his right hand back for a punch.  
  
"Everybody, MOVE!" yelled Robin. The Titans and the wing warrior split up to avoid the powerful punch that the colossus sent at them. The bridge shook and wobbled from the force of the blow.  
  
"How will we defeat something so large?" asked Starfire. Robin wondered the same thing. He then looked to his right to see the mystery warrior drawing his katana and charging up his other hand with energy. "Hey, dude," he said getting the warrior's attention, "do you know how to take this thing down?" The warrior thought for a few seconds, then a smile appeared on his face yet again.  
  
"The colossus is a powerful foe, but every enemy has a weakness. To bring the colossus down, you've got to fight on its level or you've got to bring it down to yours. To make this fight faster, how about we try both?" he said. A smile crept across Robin's face.  
  
"Alright then. You hit 'em high", said Robin to the stranger.  
  
"And you hit 'em low" the stranger replied to Robin. The stranger then extended his large black wings again as he prepared to fly. With a two mighty beats, he was lifted up and with a few more he began to fly upward, faster and faster, towards the colossus's head dodging the colossus's many attempts to swat him down. When he reached its head, he did a powerful shoulder tackle that caused the creature to stagger back and almost fall the edge. It regained its balance and immediately threw a punch that was surprisingly fast and precise. The stranger was caught off guard and was hit with the full force of the blow, causing him to fall backwards a little. Using his wings to slow his decent, he was able to regain his sense of direction. He then took a fighting stance with his katana held in front of him before charging at the colossus again and slashing furiously away at its chest.  
  
"Hey, uh, Robin," said Beast Boy, "what the hell was he talking about?"  
  
"It's simple, Beast Boy. While he attacks the head, while hit him in the lower parts." Robin replied.  
  
"So," said Cyborg, "where do we start?"  
  
"The knees sound good," replied Beast Boy.  
  
"Alright then, Beast Boy, you and Cyborg will work on the right knee. Star, you and I will work on the left," said Robin. The other Titans nodded and went to do what they did best.  
  
The stranger continued to slash at the colossus's chest. The giant shadow screamed in pain and tried to grab the boy with its right hand. Seeing the attack, he stopped slashing and punched the oncoming hand with the hilt of his sword, stopping it in its tracks. The gargantuan continued to punch the stranger without moving a single step from where it stood. The colossus then tried to trap the boy with a clapping attack. The stranger flew up to avoid the attack at the last moment and began charging black energy up in his left hand (that's the hand not holding the katana).  
  
"To slow!" he yelled out. He then fired 3 small energy disks that surrounded the colossus's upper body. The colossus stood in confusion as the disks began to glow. Suddenly, all three disks simultaneously fired black energy beams at the colossus. The colossus screamed in pain as the beams hit it at the same time. After 10 seconds of firing, the disks stopped and disappeared. The colossus was hunched over, its body singed and smoking from the stranger's energy beams.  
  
"Hurts, doesn't i-", the strangers sentence was cut off when the giant creature suddenly grabbed him with its left hand and began squeezing the boy with all its strength.  
  
"Now", said the creature, "it's your turn to scream". The boy winced in pain at the immense pressure his body was being put through. The colossus eyes began to glow brighter as he began to squeeze harder and harder. As the stranger struggled to break free he heard multiple explosions from below. The explosions caused the colossus to stagger to its left. The huge creature looked down to see Starfire firing a barrage of star bolts at its left knee. The colossus attempted to swat Starfire away, but Starfire flew away before he hit her. The creature then brought its right hand up and brought it down to smash Starfire, but missed that time as well. Robin took the opportunity and planted two electric bombs on the colossus's hand. They blew up in a shocking explosion that caused the colossus to stagger and fall on its back on the bridge. The stranger was then able to break out of the giant's grip and fly away. The colossus slowly got back up, its anger visible in its glowing red eyes. Robin, Starfire, and the stranger then began to run/fly away from the colossus as it started running toward them, slowly but with large steps.  
  
"Cyborg, Beast Boy, give him the blitz!" Robin yelled out. Cyborg and Beast Boy then began running towards the giant.  
  
"Let's see how you like this!" Beast Boy said, morphing into an armadillo. Cyborg grabbed him and began running as fast as he could toward the creature. The colossus saw them coming and stopped running. It then knelt down on one knee and drove its fist into the ground, causing multiple black pools to appear in Cyborg's path.  
  
"Avoid the pools!" the stranger yelled.  
  
"Thanks for the warning!" Cyborg yelled back. The pools then began exploding upward, missing Cyborg and Beast Boy by mere inches.  
  
"Come on, come on..." whispered Robin as he watched Cyborg turning and spinning to dodge the exploding pools.  
  
When he was 10 feet away from the colossus, Cyborg threw Beast Boy at the creature's face.  
  
"Oh, no..." said the stranger in disappointment.  
  
"What is it?" asked Starfire.  
  
"He's going too slow." replied the hooded warrior (no, his hood hasn't come down yet). Robin heard him and looked up. He was right; Beast Boy was going too slowly. The colossus was already reaching to grab the tiny armadillo. Suddenly, Beast Boy's body was covered in black energy and began to go much, much faster, just barely avoiding the colossus's hand. Right before he hit the colossus head, Beast Boy morphed into a humpback whale. He hit the colossus right in the face, causing it to once again fall on its back. After hitting the colossus in the head, Beast Boy morphed into an eagle and flew back to the others. Everyone looked at the stranger.  
  
"Don't look at me", said the boy. He then pointed behind him with his thumb. There was Raven, lying on the ground, her eyes glowing with dark energy. Her palm was stretched to where Beast Boy was when he was flying towards the colossus.  
  
"I overheard your conversation..." she said weakly before fainting again. Beast Boy morphed back into his human form and ran over to Raven, as did the others. Beast Boy held her head up.  
  
"Raven, say something!" said Beast Boy. Raven looked up with tired eyes.  
  
"Don't you have a monster to destroy?" she asked weakly. They all looked behind them and saw the colossus struggling to get up.  
  
"Let me finish this", said the stranger. Robin gave a nod, and the stranger flew upward with his katana in his right hand. He stopped when he was high above the fallen giant. He then flew downward toward to the colossus at top speed with his sword in a ready to slash position. The colossus was still struggling to get back on its feet, when the boy yelled out, "Sorry, buddy, but you aren't getting up this time!"  
  
The stranger hit the colossus like a missile and began slashing away at the creature's chest. The slices were so fast, that the only things that could be seen were flashes of light. After slashing the colossus 30 times, the stranger kicked off its chest and flew upwards again where he began charging up energy. He then fired off a huge energy blast kamehameha style at his fallen foe. A bright explosion momentarily blinded the Titans from the fight. When the light died down, the stranger was absorbing the colossus shadow-ish body into his sword. The only other thing that could be seen was the small blue orb that appeared for a short period of time before fading away into thin air. After the colossus was completely absorbed, the stranger slowly floated back down and began walking to where the Titans were watching over Raven.  
  
"Crap," said Cyborg.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked a very concerned Beast Boy.  
  
"Her vital signs are dropping, we've got to get her to a doctor, now." Replied Cyborg.  
  
"No", interrupted the stranger.  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NO!?" yelled a very angry Beast Boy, "DIDN'T YOU HEAR CYBORG!? SHE'S DYING! WE'VE GOT TO GET HER TO A DOCTOR!"  
  
"There's no time", replied the stranger calmly, "besides, what she has can not be cured by any doctor. She's lacking energy. The drill bullet took a lot out of her. Something has to be done now."  
  
"What do you suggest?" asked Robin.  
  
"She needs to have energy transferred into her immediately", he answered, and "I'm talking a lot here."  
  
"THEN TAKE SOME OF MINE! JUST DO SOMETHING!" yelled Beast Boy. The stranger shook his head.  
  
"That won't be necessary". The stranger took his hood down, revealing the face of a 17-year-old boy. His black hair was short and spiked up. He had dark brown eyes that seemed to be hiding something. Something...dark. He walked over to Raven's body and knelt down. He placed his right hand over her.  
  
"Umm, sorry, but I need a little space," he said calmly. All the Titans except Beast Boy nodded.  
  
"Sorry, dude," Beast Boy said. "but I'm not moving". The stranger sighed.  
  
"All right then," he said, "but if you want to comfort her, please do it from the other side". Beast Boy agreed with the stranger's terms and moved to Raven's other side.  
  
"Can we trust this guy?" asked Cyborg.  
  
"Right now, if we want to save Raven, we have to", Robin replied.  
  
"Here we go," said the stranger to himself. His whole body then began to glow a bright yellow. The aura got brighter and brighter, engulfing him in a mass of shining yellow light. The boy then transferred all the energy into his palm. Suddenly, a pillar of energy traveled from the boy's palm into Raven's chest. Raven's body twitched and squirmed as the energy moved into her body, healing her as it went in. the other Titans looked in awe as the stranger continued to transfer energy into Raven. After 15 seconds of transferring, the boy stopped.  
  
"That...should...be...enough," he said weakly.  
  
"Are you ok?" asked Beast Boy.  
  
"I'll be fine. I always feel extremely tired after transfusions" replied the stranger. The other Titans walked back over to them. Cyborg knelt down to check Raven's vital signs again.  
  
"She's gonna be all right" he said. Just then Raven opened her eyes.  
  
"What happened? First I felt dead tired and now I feel completely re- energized. What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"This guy", said Beast Boy pointing to the stranger, "saved your life." Raven looked up to see the face of her rescuer. She was surprised to see a strangely familiar face. She knew she'd seen him before, but she couldn't remember where.  
  
"Thanks" she said in as thankful a voice as Raven could have.  
  
"Think...nothing...of it..." he replied staggering to his feet.  
  
"Hey stranger" Robin said approaching him, "we never really got your name."  
  
"That is no longer important", he said.  
  
"What do you mean?" asked Robin.  
  
"I mean just what I said. After what I've been through, my name means nothing", he replied calmly.  
  
"Oookaaay...will you at least come back to our tower with us? We've got a fully loaded fridge just waiting to be raided!" said Beast Boy.  
  
"Thanks, but no thanks", the stranger answered as he began to walk away towards his motorcycle.  
  
"Will you at least come to rest? That transfusion ceremony seemed to have taken a lot out of you", said Starfire.  
  
"I told you, I'll be fine", he replied. After answering, he almost tripped because his right knee gave in and made him stagger sideways.  
  
"Fine then," said Cyborg, "your choice". Just then, something hit Raven in the back of her mind. Right when the stranger was getting on his bike, she spoke.  
  
"Wait", she said, "what if we can guess your name? Then would you come with us?" The stranger thought for a while before letting out a few small laughs.  
  
"Why do you insist on having me stay at your tower so badly?" he asked.  
  
"I have my reasons", replied Raven. Beast Boy couldn't help but notice and wonder about what she meant by that. The stranger thought again before responding.  
  
"All right, then", he said, "I'll play. But you get only one guess." He smiled after finishing his sentence.  
  
"One guess is all I need, Xander Blade," she said. The stranger's smile faded away and he stood in dead silence. "I'm right aren't I?" said Raven cockily.  
  
"No one has called me that in a long time. How did you know?" he asked.  
  
"I have my sources", Raven replied.  
  
"Well, I guess a deal's a deal. I'll go with you guys back to your tower. The dock is probably to far to reach for someone as tired as myself," he said. He started his motorcycle and began revving it up. His motorcycle was a black motorcycle that looked like a Harley. But upon closer inspection it was obvious that it was not. The parts were different and the bike didn't have the Harley Davidson tag on it. "Let's roll", he said.  
  
All the Titans except Robin got into Cyborg's car. Robin got on his motorcycle. They began driving back to the tower, Cyborg's car leading and Robin and Xander riding side by side.  
  
"Hey Xander! What kind of bike is that? It doesn't look like any I've ever seen!" Robin yelled over the wind.  
  
"It's custom made!" Xander yelled back, "Did it all myself!"  
  
"Badass!" Robin yelled back as they continued on toward the Titan's Tower.  
  
Inside Cyborg's car, Beast Boy wondered about how Raven knew this mystery guy's name. Did she know him? Had they met before? Did she...like him? These questions plagued his mind the whole trip.  
  
Raven also had a lot on her mind. Why had she insisted for him to come with them to the tower? She knew it was the guy from her dream, but that was pretty much all she knew about him. He could be one of Slade's spies in disguise, but then again he could be able to answer the questions that were brought to light by that dream. Only time would tell...  
  
************************************************************************  
  
That is the end of chapter 3. Sorry it took so long. Tell me if it was good or bad. Tell me whom you want to hook up. Tell me what you think! I MUST KNOW!!!!!!!!! Thanks for your time. Terra will be coming soon. Read and review.  
  
I AM ANGRYDUDE!  
  
By the way, if it's all bunched up and crap, forgive it. There's a small problem just like the one I had with chapter one. I had to remove and replace the story just to try and fix it. But if it's still bunched up, all I can say is sorry. I'm doing my best to make sure it never, ever happens again. Sorry for the inconvenience,  
  
-Angrydude 


	4. Relaxin' at the Tower

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I hope you're happy.  
  
The writing goes even weller! Wait...that isn't a real word. Oh well, hope you like the new chapter!  
  
By the way, sorry to all who were bothered by the stupid bunched up format of the last chapter. If you were having difficulty reading it here's a short review: just when the Titans think they're dead, a stranger comes and turns the tables. After all the soldier specters were gone, a giant specter, called a colossus, appeared and gave them a really hard fight (okay, so the mystery character made it not so hard). Using teamwork, they defeated the giant. The stranger performed an energy transfusion and saved Raven's life. After guessing the mystery man's name, which he was trying to keep secret, all of them went to the Titan Tower to kick back and talk. This is where this chapter picks up.  
  
TO THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy.  
  
Chapter 4: Relaxin' at the Tower  
  
Xander was amazed when they got to the Tower. He looked in awe at the giant 'T' shaped building that the Titans called home.  
"It's...uh..." he stuttered, "...really freakin' big."  
"You think that's good", said Cyborg from inside his car, "wait until you see the kitchen, not to mention the huge screen T.V.".  
"Don't you mean big screen?" Xander asked.  
"No, I mean HUGE", replied a grinning Cyborg.  
"Must be great for games and movies", asked Xander.  
"You don't know the half of it", Robin said pulling up on his bike.  
"Hmm...now I'm really interested", Xander replied. "Where can I park?"  
"Hang on a sec. Hey, Cy, open up the freaking' garage door!" said Robin.  
"Hold up, man!" Cyborg yelled back, "I need to find the right button!"  
"Haven't you memorized them all yet?" Raven asked from the back seat.  
"You know, with all the villains, bad guys, and freaks, I just haven't found the time to memorize which freakin' button does what!" Cyborg yelled back.  
"Please, spare me the excuse", Raven said, "even Beast Boy could've memorized the buttons by now."  
"Is that an insult or a compliment?" asked Beast Boy in an angry tone. He was still being bugged about whether Raven had emotions toward Xander.  
"What do you think, Einstein?" Raven replied sarcastically. Beast Boy's anger became visible in his face. Just as Raven and Beast boy were about to fight and argue, Starfire butted in.  
"That is enough!" she said, "No more mean talking!" It was just then that Cyborg found the right button to get their garage door open. He pushed it and mechanical whirring sounds were heard beneath them. Xander looked down to see the ground opening up in front of them, revealing and underground passage that led to the Titan's "garage".  
"I like your door", said Xander.  
"Built and designed it myself", replied Cyborg proudly. They then began driving down the path to park their rides, with Raven and Beast Boy at each other throats in Cyborg's car. Starfire was trying her best to stop their "mean talking", but she was adding more noise than she was actually stopping. In an obvious attempt to take their minds off of the noise, Cyborg spoke.  
"So, Xander," he said, "what brings a super powered, sword swingin', winged warrior to our city?"  
"...Reasons..." Xander replied.  
"Such as...?" continued Cyborg.  
"...I really don't want to talk about this..." Xander said sadly.  
"Why not?" asked Cyborg.  
"We're here", interrupted Robin as they reached the main garage, "just go on and park anywhere, Xan (pronounced 'zan'). I can call you that, right?"  
"No problem." Xander replied. He pulled up beside Cyborg's car and got off his bike. As Xander put down the bike stand, Robin then saw something he missed earlier.  
"Is that a guitar case?" he asked, pointing to a guitar case attached to the left side of Xander's bike. Xander was on the right side of his bike, checking to make sure that nothing broke or anything like that. He answered Robin without looking up.  
"That's what it is" he replied calmly while still examining his bike "you got a screwdriver? Some thing's jammed in here and I can't reach it..."  
"Here" Cyborg said tossing him a screwdriver. He had gotten out of his car, whereas Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire were still yelling and arguing inside.  
"How long have you been playing?" Robin asked Xander.  
"About 4 or 5 years, give or take." he replied while trying to pry the foreign object out of the space in his bike, "Yes! Got it! Here you go Cy. I can call you Cy, right?". Xander handed Cyborg the screwdriver.  
"No problem, Xan. What got stuck in there, anyway?" Cyborg replied. Xander got back up and began wiping his hands on a nearby rag.  
"Shrapnel and bullet casings, nothing out of the ordinary", Xander replied. Just then Beast Boy came out of the car, hunched over with a look of anger on his face, yelling and screaming at Raven.  
"I'm tired of this, Raven!" he yelled, "I'm tired of you making fun of me all the time! Tired of you always calling me stupid and always putting me down!"  
"Nobody asked you to take it seriously, dumbass!" Raven replied furiously. This sudden look of anger on her face somewhat shocked the Titans. It was far from her normal monotone self.  
"There you go again!" Beast Boy yelled back, "Don't you have any feelings!?"  
"Please!" interrupted Starfire, "That is enough! Friends should not fight each other!"  
"Last time I checked, my friends didn't call me stupid and retarded all the time!" Beast Boy screamed. Raven began to focus and was preparing to fling some nearby barrels at him, and Beast Boy morphed into ram and began charging at top speed. At the same time, Raven flung 5 barrels at him. Xander immediately picked up his katana and charged in between the two of them, unsheathing his sword while running. He cut the 5 barrels in a single slash, forcing Raven to lose her focus. As the barrel halves began to fall to the ground, Xander quickly sheathed his sword and turned around just in time to grab Beast Boy by the horns, stopping him in his tracks.  
"That is enough." Xander said calmly, "Starfire is right. You two are friends, and this little fight is pointless and stupid. If you must vent your anger out, go do it where you won't hurt anyone. If anything, at least get some time alone to calm down. Until you relax, don't go near each other." Xander slowly set Beast Boy back on the ground and let his horns go, allowing him to morph back into his human form. He looked at Raven with angry eyes before turning around and storming off to get away from her. Xander turned around to see Raven putting her hood on and turning around as she began to float away. If Xander wasn't mistaken, he was pretty sure that he saw tears in her eyes. Starfire followed Raven to try to cheer her up, while Cyborg chased after Beast Boy. Robin merely shook his head and sat down on a nearby ledge. He hunched over and held his head in his hands.  
"Just another day..." he said with an obvious tone of sadness.  
"I'll bet," Xander replied as he began to walk back to his motorcycle. He placed his katana on his belt before he began removing the locks that held the guitar case to his bike. After removing the case, he put the strap attached to the case around his neck and wore the case like a single strap backpack with the case on his back. He walked over to where Robin was hunched over. "I'll just show myself in", he said, "if that's okay with you". Robin awoke from his sorrow position and immediately got up.  
"Sorry about that," he said, "it's just that, things have been getting really crazy lately." He walked up to Xander and was surprised how much taller he looked up close. Xander only stood an actual height of 5'10".  
"It's cool", Xander replied, "I can relate". They then began walking down the hall that Beast Boy had taken as they continued to talk to each other.  
"Lately, their arguments have been getting worse", Robin said, "today would have been the first time they hit each other, if you hadn't topped them. Hang on a second." Robin and Xander stopped in front of an elevator door. On the right of the door was screen with 5 ovals where fingertips were supposed to go. Robin placed his right hand on the screen and a light went from left to right scanning his fingerprints.  
'FINGERPRINT ENTRY ACCEPTED. WELCOME, ROBIN.' Said a computerized voice. The elevator doors opened and the two teens walked inside. As the elevator began to go up, Robin attempted to re-start their conversation.  
"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked Xander.  
"From a very skilled teacher", Xander answered. "His name was Omen."  
"Could he teach me some of those moves?" Robin asked  
"That depends", Xander replied, "I haven't seen him in about 6 months."  
"Oh..." Robin said disappointedly, "Sorry for all these questions. I know I'm not to good with these kinds of conversations."  
"It's cool." Xander replied, "I'm feeling pretty nervous myself, being inside the Titan Tower and all."  
"You've got a hell of a way of showing your excitement." Said Robin.  
"Sorry, but after being alone for such a long period of time, I've gotten a little cold hearted", Xander replied.  
"Now that", said Robin, "is something I can understand". This caused a smile to appear on Xander's face. Suddenly a 'DING!' was heard and the elevator stopped. The doors opened and the two stepped out into the Titan's living room. Cyborg was sitting alone on the couch, hunched over and staring off into nothing.  
"What's wrong, Cy?" Robin asked he and Xander walked towards the couch.  
"Beast Boy is in the training room, pounding away at the walls and training dummies", he said in a sad tone, "he looked the damn doors and won't let anyone in."  
"The same with Raven", said Starfire as she walked in to the living room, "she has locked herself inside her room and will not even answer when I call her". Robin plopped onto the couch next to Cyborg.  
"This is getting way too out of hand", Robin said.  
"Just let it run its course", Xander said. "Arguments are part of any normal friendship. Without pain, you can't have any happiness either."  
"That's true, but it's just getting so irritating", said Cyborg.  
'Don't worry, tin man. It's just a small wound that a few hours of crying and punching will quickly heal'. This caused Cyborg to jump up off the couch. The Titans were freaking out. All three of them heard this strange voice, but it didn't seem to enter through their ears. It seemed to just speak directly into their minds.  
"What the hell was that?!", asked Cyborg as he activated his sonic cannon. It was then that the three of them noticed the smile that was on Xander's face.  
"What is so funny?" asked Starfire.  
'Yeah, Xan, what's so funny?' asked the voice again. Now the three of them were really scared.  
"Where the hell are you?!" Robin yelled out.  
"Relax", Xander said with a big smile on his face, "what you heard was a psychic message".  
"From who?" Robin asked.  
"My sword", said Xander, "Actually, it's the spirit in the sword, but you get the idea". Now the Titans were just confused.  
"You're kidding me right?" said a very jittery Cyborg "This is a joke and that psychic voice was just another one of your freaky ass powers, right?!"  
'You live with a green boy who turns into animals, a dark clad girl with telekinesis, and an alien girl who shoots green lasers from her eyes & her hands. And you can't believe that there's a soul in a sword that has psychic powers?'. The Titans slowly walked towards Xander, who had taken his katana off his belt. He held the sheathed sword in front of him and let go. The sword remained floating, even after Xander let go. Each of the Titans took a step back at the sight of this strange phenomenon. Starfire just fainted. Xander took the guitar case of his back and leaned it on the couch before he sat down.  
"Well, Robin," Xander said amusingly, "you were interested in my power. Here's one of the sources of my power. This is my sword, Akujin, the 'Sword of Shadows'."  
"Wait a minute", said Robin, "isn't Akujin Japanese for 'Evil Being'?"  
'Well done, Robin,' said Akujin 'I see you know your Japanese'.  
"Woah," said Cyborg as he fell back onto the couch "This is way too much to take in". Xander smiled as his sword flew back to him.  
"I'm a little hungry", said Xander as he placed Akujin, "anyone wanna join me for a snack?" The two Titans still conscious snapped out of their trance.  
"I'll show you to the kitchen", said Cyborg "I'm a little hungry myself. Besides, some food will calm my overstressed mind".  
"I'll stay here and try to wake up Star", said Robin, "but could you guys still get me a sandwich?"  
"Consider it done!" said Cyborg as he and Xander walked into the Titan's main kitchen.  
  
The training room was a mess. The weights were scattered all over the place and there were scratches and dents on the walls. Sitting alone on one of the benches was Beast Boy, sweating and panting from his recent rampage.  
"What the hell is wrong with her?" he asked, talking to himself. He was mad as a hornet (and if he wanted too, he could look like one, too) at Raven, at how she could be so heartless and cold. But for as much as he was mad at her, he was also mad at himself for what he almost did to her today. If it hadn't been for new guy stopping him, he would've dodged the barrels out of raw instinct and hit Raven hard. How could he even think of doing such a thing to her? Especially after he had admitted to himself how he felt towards her...  
  
Raven sat alone on her bed. She locked the door and was now in a meditating position. It took all her focus to keep her powers from ripping apart everything in her room. She was mad at Beast Boy for taking every single little thing seriously, but at the same time she hated herself for doing what she did to him. The way she always insulted him. She almost couldn't forgive herself. Then, for the fifth time that day, a lone tear silently rolled down her cheek.  
  
"So, Xan, how long will you be staying?" Cyborg asked as he took an armful of ingredients out of the fridge. Xander was at the counter making a 2-foot long sub sandwich.  
"I'm not sure how long I'll be here for", he replied while placing another piece of turkey on his sandwich.  
"Where you been staying anyway?" asked Cyborg as he began piling up his ingredients for what would be a 5 layered sandwich.  
"I've been staying in an abandoned warehouse down at the pier", replied Xander as he started placing the vegetables on his sandwich.  
"Why you staying in such a dirty place?" Cyborg asked as he began to make Robin's sandwich.  
"Well" said Xander "when you've got almost no money, you don't have much of a choice".  
"With a bad ass coat like that" said Cyborg, "I'd think you were some super rich snob or something".  
"This is an old coat", Xander replied, "I just keep it well cleaned. What is that thing?" Xander pointed to a small, normal sandwich that was microscopic in size compared to the tower of food that was Cyborg's snack.  
"It's Robin's sandwich", said Cyborg, and the two shared a short chuckle. They walked back to the living room where Robin was fanning Starfire who had just woken up.  
"Cyborg", she said, "I just had the strangest dream. We were talking to Xander when his sword delivered a psychic message to us and..."  
'Sorry, Starfire,' Akujin said, 'but that was no dream'. Starfire began to freak out but was calmed down by Robin.  
"Relax, Starfire," he said "it's okay. Hey, where's my sandwich?"  
"Here, catch!" said Cyborg as he threw Robin's sandwich to him.  
"This dinky thing?" Robin asked in confusion.  
"If you wanted something bigger", said Cyborg, "you should've said so". Before Robin could say anything more, Cyborg ran out the door to eat his sandwich, leaving Robin with his tiny piece of bread and meat. Xander laughed as he plopped down and began to eat his sub sandwich, when he heard Starfire's stomach growl very loudly.  
"Oops", she said with a blush, "my apologies". Xander tore off half of his sandwich and gave it to Starfire. "No I couldn't", she said, "it is your sandwich".  
"It's okay", he replied, "I made a big sandwich because I was expecting someone to ask me for some".  
"Are you sure?" she asked him.  
"Positive", Xander replied, "go ahead and take it".  
"Thank you" she said as she slowly took the sandwich. If Xander was looking, he'd have spotted a small hint of anger in Robin's eyes as he was finish his babywich. It quickly disappeared, though.  
"So, Xan," Robin said "how long do you plan on staying?"  
"As long as you'll have me" he replied. "I feel like playing my guitar", Xander said. He then opened up his guitar case and pulled out a black acoustic guitar with a fire symbol sticker on it. He put the strap over his head and let the guitar hang down. He put his sandwich in his mouth and began walking away while playing the opening tune of "Hands Down" (by Dashboard Confessionals).  
"Are you sure it is safe to have him here?" Starfire asked. She was thinking about their other experiences with new teens outside of the team. Their bad experience with Terra leaving without saying good-bye, and even the betrayal of her sister, Blackfire.  
"I'm not too sure, Star," Robin replied "we know little to nothing about this guy. Not to mention the fact that he has a sword that's called 'Evil Being'". Just then, his stomach growled louder than Starfire's did earlier. Robin chuckled in embarrassment. Starfire tore off a piece of the sandwich that Xander gave her and gave it to Robin, who was pretty surprised.  
"but Star, I..." Starfire put the piece in his hand before he could finish.  
"I was not expecting to finish it all, anyway," she said with a smile and walked out the door, leaving Robin alone on the couch with a sandwich piece in his hand. Robin put the sandwich on the table in front of him and walked toward the wall. He began slowly pounding his head on the wall.  
'I can't believe I missed ANOTHER opportunity!' he thought as he continued to bang his head on the wall.  
  
Up on the roof, Xander sat alone on the ledge. He was still playing Hands Down and was nearing the end of the song when Akujin spoke to him.  
'Great job earning their trust', he said sarcastically. Xander stopped playing and let out a big sigh.  
"Sorry, but they're the only friends I've had in a long time" Xander replied. "Besides, I didn't want them knowing about why I came here."  
'Why not?' Akujin asked.  
"Because, Akujin," Xander said "I doubt that their finding out would make any difference". Xander then began to play "Nothing Else Matters" (by Metallica).  
'is that so...' said Akujin. Xander didn't respond this time, but he didn't have to. Akujin already knew the real reason why he wouldn't tell anyone why they were there. He also knew that it was only a matter of time before they did find out.  
  
That is the end of Chapter 4! Read and review, pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!?!? Sorry that updates take so long, but I'm a bit of a busy guy.  
  
Next chapter, the Titans and Xander have themselves a little training!  
  
I AM ANGRYDUDE! 


	5. Training Day

Disclaimer: Own Teen Titans, I do not. Own Xander Blade and all other original characters, I do. Isn't that great? (  
  
To all who read this, forgive the taking-so-long-to-update-ness. Like I say, I'm busy. ON TO THE STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Chapter 5: Training Day  
  
It was 5:45 in the morning and the sun was just rising. Raven awoke from her sleep, hungry and tired. She had locked herself in her room the night before and didn't get anything to eat. She was barely to get into a sitting position as she rubbed her head. She was having a strange headache, but the feeling was strangely familiar. It was the exact same pain she felt after she had that dream about Xander the day before. She staggered to her feet and walked to her mirror. After seeing how messy her hair was, she took out a comb and began combing it back into place. As she straightened out her locks, she wondered if Beast Boy was still mad at her...  
  
'Do they know you're here?' Akujin asked.  
  
"No", said Xander calmly. He had returned to the warehouse where he was staying before he had met the Titans. He was slowly walking around and gathering his clothes into his large black duffel bag.  
  
'I don't want to sound like a father or anything', Akujin said, 'but I think it would be healthy for you if you had some friends again.'  
  
"The last time I had friends", Xander replied, "they died. And it was my fault".  
  
'Do you have to tell yourself that everyday?' Akujin asked.  
  
"If that's what it takes to keep innocent people safe", Xander replied monotone-ly, "then yes".  
  
'Just give it a try' Akujin said.  
  
"No, Akujin," Xander replied getting annoyed, "I see no reason as to why I should stay. Therefore I will not".  
  
'There's Raven' Akujin said 'you could stay for her'. Xander stopped immediately and looked at his sword.  
  
"I don't know what you mean..." he said.  
  
'Come on, man, don't lie to me', Akujin said, 'she guessed your name in a single guess and you were totally interested in her. I saw the way you looked at her'. Xander looked away and began collecting his clothes again. 'I seem to have hit a nerve' Akujin said amusingly.  
  
"You didn't hit anything," Xander said in an annoyed tone.  
  
'What are you so afraid of?' Akujin asked. Xander paused again.  
  
"You know damn well what I'm afraid of", Xander replied. "I can't stay. It'll end up the same way, just like I did before".  
  
'But it could be different this time' Akujin said as he tried to convince Xander to stay 'Come on just give it a shot. If not to stay for romance, then at least stay to protect her. Those damn specters are still here and they're going to need your help to stop them'. To this, Xander couldn't say no. He let out a big sigh.  
  
"Fine then", he said, "let me just get my stuff together. But the second that things there get too dangerous, I'm getting the hell out".  
  
'Deal', Akujin replied, 'now hurry and get your crap together'.  
  
"Don't rush me or I'll snap you in two", Xander replied.  
  
'That'll be the day', Akujin replied sarcastically.  
  
The Titans had gathered in the dining room for breakfast. Everyone, except Raven. She hadn't come out of her room yet.  
  
"I wonder where Raven is" asked Starfire as she ate her pancakes and ketchup.  
  
"Who cares?" said Beast Boy as he ate his tofu eggs and tofu bacon.  
  
"You're STILL mad?" Cyborg asked with a mouthful of waffles. Beast Boy ignored Cyborg and continued eating his breakfast silently on the other side of the table.  
  
"You gotta let this thing go, man!" Cyborg yelled. Beast Boy quietly got up and walked through the doors that led to the living room. Cyborg clenched his fists and grit his teeth in anger. Just as he was about to get up to go and pound the crap out of Beast Boy, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cyborg looked behind him to see Robin.  
  
"Let it go, Cy", Robin said, "We can talk to them both after training today. They both know how important practice is, and they'll come whether they're mad at each other or not." Cyborg sat back down and began to eat his waffles really fast. Robin sat down next to Starfire and looked at her breakfast.  
  
"I think pancakes go better with syrup, Star", he said.  
  
"I beg to differ Robin", she said with a smile. A smile also found its way onto Robin's face. This was what he liked about her. Sure she was a little strange, but the way she was about her strangeness. She was so comfortable with it. Being around her also mad him more comfortable, among other things.  
  
'At least one of our couples isn't dis-functional' thought Cyborg. Just then, Xander walked into the room. He was wearing a simple red shirt that had fire symbol on the back and baggy blue jeans. He wore the same shoes from the day before and had Akujin on his belt. No one noticed though that he didn't have his wings sticking out of his back. His back was perfectly clear, no signs of any wings at all. He went to the table and sat down.  
  
"Hey, Xan! Where you been?" Cyborg asked.  
  
"Went to go get my stuff at the warehouse where I was staying", he answered. "By the way, I was kinda wondering...um..."  
  
"You need a place to stay and you were wondering if you could crash here for a while?" Robin said.  
  
"Yeah...that's what I was gonna ask", Xander replied.  
  
"I don't really have problem with it." Said Robin. "If you really need a place to stay, you're welcome here. It's the least we could do to pay you back for helping us out."  
  
"Thanks", Xander said. He got up and began to walk away when he turned around to speak to them again. "Look, I know that...you don't exactly trust me. I've been pretty mysterious to you all and you don't know a thing about me. You have every right to be suspicious, but please hear me out. I'm not here to hurt anyone or to betray anyone. I just wanted to say that". He walked through the door leaving the teens a little shocked.  
  
"What was he talking about?" asked Cyborg.  
  
"He's either got very sensitive hearing or really great deductive skills", Robin said.  
  
"After all I've seen him do, I would not be surprised if he had both", Starfire said.  
  
"I think the question now", began Cyborg, "is whether he's right about what we think about him".  
  
"He did save Raven", Robin said, "but still...we know almost nothing about him except his name".  
  
"He doesn't seem dangerous", Cyborg said.  
  
"We thought Blackfire was not dangerous, and look what happened", Starfire said. There was a long silence, until Robin spoke.  
  
"Those specters were hella strong", he said. "He was a big help when we were loosing. But I can't shake the fact that I'm missing something about him."  
  
"All we can do now is try to get more out of him", said Cyborg, "and who knows, he could make a good Titan". This was something that all of them could agree on. Xander was strong and having him on their side would really help them out.  
  
"How 'bout we invite him to training?" Robin said. "I'm interested in the guy's powers". Another thing they could all agree on. For the time they all agreed, without saying it, that they'd trust Xander. But as much as they liked him, they were still careful not to get too close to this still mysterious man.  
  
11:33 A.M.  
  
The Titans, this time all of them, and Xander had gathered at their outside training field where they were going to have their training session for the day. Cyborg was at the main computer getting the obstacle course started. Starfire, Robin, and Xander were having a light conversation to the side. Xander was very excited about the course and had a big, goofy grin on his face the whole time. Raven was meditating on the rock behind them. She looked at Xander and remembered that strange dream again. She still didn't know what it meant because she hadn't asked Xander about it yet. But what was she going to say? That she had a dream with him in it? As she continued with her thoughts, she saw Beast Boy on the other of the field skipping rocks across the water. They hadn't spoken to each other since yesterday and unless one of them apologized soon, they wouldn't be talking to each other any time soon.  
  
"You guys are gonna love this", Cyborg said excitedly, catching everyone's attention, "I built this new course myself".  
  
"When do you have time to build an obstacle course?" Xander asked. "Hell, when does anyone have time to build an obstacle course?"  
  
"When the T.V. broke" Raven answered in her normal monotone voice. Xander glanced to look at her and she immediately looked away. He looked a t her for another 3 seconds before he gave her a big smile and looked away. This caused Raven to blush a little. It was then that she caught herself. 'Why am I blushing?' she thought to herself.  
  
"So, who wants to try it out first?" Cyborg asked. Beast Boy silently walked up to the starting line and looked at Cyborg.  
  
"Set me up, Cy", he said in a tone that wasn't his normal tone. It was a sad and somewhat cold tone. Cyborg was caught off guard, expecting Robin to go up first. But after getting his focus back he faced Beast Boy.  
  
"Alright, BB", he said, "you know the drill. Wait for the green light and go through the course. Cool?"  
  
"It's cool", Beast Boy replied as he got into a ready position. He looked up just as the red light above him turned from red to yellow. The two other yellow lights activated and 3 seconds after the last yellow light, the green light activated Beast Boy sprinted into Cyborg's course.  
  
The first part of the course activated. 15 laser cannons appeared 60 yards ahead of Beast Boy and began firing, separately at him. Beast Boy immediately morphed into a falcon and began dodging the shots, avoiding them by mere centimeters. When he was 30 yards from the cannons, they began to fire faster. Beast Boy instinctively began flying and avoiding even faster. When he was 15 yards from the lasers, they lasers dismounted and began hover around the area. As they flew around, they continued to aim and fire at Beast Boy. Beast Boy was doing barrel rolls and swerving left & right to avoid the blasts. When he flew over a red line on the ground, the lasers stopped firing and flew back to where they were mounted at before.  
  
"Good job, BB!" Cyborg said, "You cleared the first area! You're coming up to the next one!" Beast Boy morphed back into his normal form and continued running towards the next area.  
  
"Bring it on!" he yelled back as he was running. Cyborg pushed one of the buttons on his control board and 3 large disks rose out of the ground. One of the disks was launched upward and as it was falling back down, it changed in position so that it was flying parallel to the ground. It flew towards Best Boy, who morphed into an armadillo and rolled under the disks. Suddenly, the other two disks began rolling on the ground at high speeds. They rolled in place for a while before rolling toward Beast Boy. Beast Boy morphed into a raptor and began running to meet the disks. He dodged the first disk and then dodged the next one. Just as he thought he was safe, he saw the flying disk coming back. He jumped over it and morphed into a cheetah. He began running at top speed to the next area, when he heard one of the rolling disks coming at him from behind. He started to pick up the speed when he saw the other rolling disk coming at him.  
  
'Gotta time this just right' he thought as he continued running forward. Just when it looked like the disk was going to cut him in half, Beast Boy dodged it. He looked behind him to see the two disks swerve and avoid hitting each other at the last second. He looked forward, just in time to come face to face with a wall. He hit the wall hard and morphed back into his normal form. The others flinched as they watched Beast Boy slam into the wall.  
  
"I think even I felt that", Xander said, causing everyone to let out small laughs.  
  
After regaining his composure, Beast Boy got up and looked behind him. He freaked out when he saw all three of this disks coming at him. He quickly morphed into a gorilla and climbed the wall that he ran into. He got over the wall and heard the disks hit the wall and get stuck. He then morphed into a triceratops and charged through the remaining walls. When he got through all of them, he looked up and saw 5 androids standing in battle positions. An 11-foot wall surrounded the area, making a small circular arena. An energy barrier formed a dome shaped roof above Beast Boy.  
  
"You gotta beat these guys in order to get to the last area!" Cyborg yelled to Beast Boy. Beast Boy nodded and charged at the androids. 4 of them dodged, but the last one grabbed Beast Boy by the horns and held him above its head. Suddenly, Beast Boy morphed into a whale. Unable to carry the weight, the robot was crushed by Beast Boy's tremendous size. He morphed back into his normal form.  
  
"One down, four to go", he said. The other robots surrounded him from four different sides and charged at him at the same time. He morphed into a gorilla again and did a twister spin in place, knocking the charging robots back. He quickly grabbed one of the nearby robots' legs and swung it above his head. After swinging it over his head a few times, he threw it to one of the other robots, knocking them both out. He was then grabbed by one of the other robots from behind and slammed into the grabbed by a backwards suplex. After the droid slammed Beast Boy into the ground, it grabbed his legs and began to swing him, tornado style (the way Mario swings Bowser in Mario 64). After 3 complete swings, the droid let go of Beast Boy's legs, flinging him into the other droid. The robot kicked Beast Boy in the face right before it was hit, sending Beast Boy flying back to the other droid. Luckily, he was able to turn into an eagle and fly upward, just barely avoiding a drop kick from the droid.  
  
After flying upward 9 feet, he changed into a pterodactyl and dived down, talons first. He started clawing and slashing at the droid, who blocked each of the shots. The droid saw an opening and grabbed one of Beast Boy's legs. It slammed him into the ground before throwing him into the wall. He morphed back into his normal form.  
  
"Come on, Beast Boy," yelled Xander, "you can do better than that!" The other Titans were also cheering him on, even Raven. Beast Boy struggled back up and taunted the other two droids to "bring it on". The robots took karate positions before charging at Beast Boy. Just when the robots kicked him up-close at the same time, he ducked and did a 360-degree sweeping, knocking the both down. He then jumped, changed into a T-Rex, and landed on the two robots, crushing them both. He morphed back to his normal form as the walls began to come down.  
  
"Last stretch, Beast Boy!" Cyborg yelled, "Make it count!" Beast Boy sprinted out into the last stretch of the course. As he ran, the ground began shake. Pillars started to rise out of the ground everywhere. Beast Boy morphed into a cheetah, picking up speed and avoiding the pillars at the same time. When the pillars stopped rising, and a 100 yard pit appeared in front of him. Multiple platforms appeared, floating above the pit. Beast Boy's speed was already a lot and he wanted to stick to the ground as much as possible (even as a bird, flying was still tiring). So instead, he became a gazelle and started hopping across the platforms, still maintaining his speed.  
  
"He's tired" Xander said.  
  
"How can you tell?" asked Robin.  
  
"If he weren't tired, he would've just flown over the pit", Xander replied, "Flying with wings is tiring. Trust me I know." Beast Boy continued leaping across the platforms and when he cleared the pit the ground suddenly became uneven, as in crooked, rigid cliffs. Beast Boy morphed into a mountain goat and began leaping from cliff to cliff, going up and down depending on what cliff he jumped. He finally cleared the cliffs and all that was left was the ending stretch. Beast Boy became a cheetah and sprinted all out to the finish line. When he crossed the line, he rolled on the ground, morphing back to his human form. He laid on the ground, panting and sweating when the others walked up to him.  
  
"Good job, Beast Boy", Xander said.  
  
"Thanks...new guy..." he replied weakly. Robin stuck out his hand and Beast Boy grabbed it. Robin pulled him up, and that was when Raven and Beast Boy's eyes connected. They immediately looked away from each other. But they didn't have looks of anger, just looks of shyness.  
  
"Umm... good job", Raven stuttered out.  
  
"Thanks, Raven" Beast Boy replied without looking at her.  
  
'They're on their way', Akujin said to Xander. Xander grinned.  
  
"That was one hell of a run, man!" Cyborg said, "How you feelin'?"  
  
"Like my arms are gonna fall off." Beast Boy said walking up to Cyborg, "You really know how to make a killer course, Cy. What's my time?"  
  
"I clocked you in at 6:49", Cyborg said, "a pretty great time. At least it will be until I hit that course." Beast Boy laughed.  
  
"We'll see, Tin man, we'll see", he replied. After Cyborg set everything up again, Robin took his turn, then Raven, then Starfire. On Cyborg's turn, Robin operated the machine while Cyborg went through the course. When he finished, he found himself the same way everyone else was after the course: tired and barely able to stand.  
  
"Yo, Robin!" he yelled, "My time?"  
  
"5:47, Cy." Robin answered. "That beats the hell out of our times."  
  
"What did you expect?" Cyborg replied as he stood up straight and struck a muscle man pose, "The best only deliver the best." He immediately fell over out of exhaustion. Beast Boy went over and helped him up.  
  
"Like I said, man," Cyborg said as he struggled to remain standing, "the best of the best."  
  
"Hey, Xan", Robin said, "your up". Xander was staring at the ground and looked up in confusion when Robin called him.  
  
"What? Ha?" Xander stuttered, "Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought."  
  
"Well stop thinking and get out there, it's your turn" Robin said. Xander took Akujin off his belt and placed him on the rock beside him. As he was walking towards the starting line, he turned toward Cyborg.  
  
"Hey, Cy", he said, "Would you get mad if I...messed up your course a little? I know you worked hard on it and all, and I...well...I just thought I might ask you first...you know...for approval."  
  
"Relax, dude," Cyborg replied, "the metal I used to make the course is really freakin' strong. I doubt you'll break anything. But if you want, you can go on and try."  
  
"So...is that a yes?" Xander asked.  
  
"Sure, go crazy", Cyborg replied. Xander gave a nod for thanks and continued on to the starting line.  
  
"Maybe now we'll be able to see what he's really made of", Robin said. Xander walked up to the starting line and got into a ready position. He looked up and watched the lights turn from red, then to yellow, and after the last light went from yellow to green, he sprinted into the course. The lasers activated and began firing at him. He kept running towards the beams, maintaining the fast speed he was running at, dodging the beams by just inches. He was so fast that it seemed as though he wasn't moving from out of his path. It seemed like the beams just went through him. The Titans watched this with wide eyes.  
  
"The dude is just barely avoiding those beams", Robin said.  
  
"Is he even moving?" Beast Boy asked. It was then that he noticed how Raven was watching Xander very, very closely, almost to the point of falling forward. This began to stir emotions of jealousy inside Beast Boy. How did she feel towards Xander and HOW THE HELL DID SHE GUESS HIS NAME?!?! It was driving him crazy.  
  
The cannons began firing faster at Xander, but he continued to run at the same blinding speeds, dodging to avoid the beams. When he got close enough, the cannons dismounted and began to hover around him. It was then that Xander began charging energy in his hands and, instead of dodging the beams; he started knocking the beams back at the cannons with his hands. Some of the cannons exploded when they were hit with their own reflected lasers. When Xander was 10 yards from the line to the next area, his wings energized on his back. First they appeared in the form of black energy, but the energy quickly disappeared and his black wings took their normal form. He began flying backwards, cupped his hands in front of him and began charging energy. Just when he crossed the line to the next area, he fired multiple energy balls at the remaining cannons. Each ball hit its mark, causing all of the cannons to malfunction and fall to the ground. The Titans freaked out.  
  
"OH CRAP DID YOU GUY'S JUST SEE THAT? THAT WAS FREAKY! DID HIS WINGS JUST APPEAR OUT OF NOWHERE? WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Cyborg yelled out in one breath.  
  
"Cyborg, please, you are breaking my ear drums!" Starfire yelled.  
  
"I'M SORRY, BUT HIS WINGS! THEY JUST POPPED OUT!" Cyborg yelled again, "THEN HE STARTED SHOOTING ENERY AND THEN"  
  
"CY, SHUT UP! WE GET IT ALREADY!" Robin yelled.  
  
"Be quiet", said Raven calmly, "he's getting to the next area, Robin. Don't forget your job." Robin then remembered that he was on the control panel. He looked up to see THAT Xander was about to reach the disk area. He activated the disks and the three of them began to roll/fly toward Xander. Xander flew under the flying disks and did a barrel roll so that he went in between the other two disks. He turned to face the disks as they came at him again. He landed on the ground and stood right in the path of the rolling disks.  
  
"Get out of there!" Raven yelled. This surprised everyone, even Raven. 'Did I just cheer for him?' she wondered. But Xander didn't move. He stood in place as the disks got closer and closer. Just when they were about to slice him, he caught the two disks with his hands. The Titans jaws dropped. Xander smiled as he saw the third and last disk coming at him. He ran toward the flying disk, still holding the two that he caught.  
  
"Is he crazy?" Beast Boy said. Xander flew up, avoiding the disk. He flew behind the disk and sliced it in half by using the disk in his right hand as sword. He then used the disk in his left hand to slam the disk halves into the ground. He tossed the other disk to the side and flew on to the next area. As he was flying, the series of walls appeared in front of him. He stopped and landed back on the ground.  
  
"Gotta rest my aching wings", he said. He jumped on top of the walls and began running along the tops of the walls ninja-style. To the untrained eye, it seemed as though he was running on air. But upon closer inspection, one could see that his feet did touch something: the tops of the walls that he was running over. The tips of his toes touched the tops of the walls for brief moments as he skillfully and speedily ran along the tops of the walls. When he got to the last wall, he did a front flip off of it and landed kneeling-on-one-knee style. He looked up and the robots were there, waiting for him in fighting positions. A smile appeared on Xander's face.  
  
"This will be fun", he said. One of the robots rushed to him and punched him in the face, causing him to fly into the wall that was now coming up. "Very, Very fun", he said as he got back on his feet. "Alright, robo dumbass, you've got the power. Now let's see if you can keep up". He ran towards the droid that attacked him. The droid threw a punch at Xander, which he was easily able to dodge. He ducked down close to avoid the punch and quickly came back up with an uppercut to the droid's chin, sending him flying vertically. Xander jumped up, grabbed the robot's leg and threw it back down to the ground. Before the droid hit the ground, Xander did a downward flying kick to the droid's back (that's the side facing him) causing the droid to hit the ground harder and putting it out of commission. Xander got up and faced the other four droids.  
  
"Who's next?" he asked. The smile had disappeared and his face was now dead seriousness. He stared at the robots with a glare that was cold as ice. When the Titans saw this, all of them took a small step back.  
  
"Did you see that?" Starfire asked, "His eyes, they were so...cold". All the others could do was nod in agreement.  
  
The other robots were now surrounding Xander in an attempt to do the same move they did to Beast Boy. But before they could charge at him, Xander charged and shoulder tackled the droid in front of him causing it to stagger. He then ran to the next droid and punched it in the gut and while it was hunched over, he elbowed it in the back, sending it face first into the ground.  
  
"He's not getting back up", Xander said. He than heard the footsteps of the other two droids and turned around to face them both. Just when they were about to punch him, he jumped and flipped over them so that he now stood back to back with the robots. He quickly turned around and grabbed the droid on his right. Right after grabbing it, he threw it into the other droid, causing them both to hit the wall. He turned to the droid that he had caused to stagger earlier. He ran to it and began to punch it in the stomach furiously. After punching the droid 14 times in the stomach, he sent it flying into the wall with a soccer-style slice kick. After knocking out that droid, he returned his attention to the remaining two, which had gotten back up and were now in fighting poses.  
  
"Hey, Cy", Robin said, "which button makes them stronger?"  
  
"You sure you wanna do that?" Cyborg asked.  
  
"Just tell him which button it is!" Xander yelled. "No offense, but I'm getting pretty bored!"  
  
"Hey, he asked for it", Robin said.  
  
"Fine, but I hope you know what you're dealing with", Cyborg said with a shrug. "It's the green knob over the lever on the left, Rob". Robin found the knob and turned up the level of the droids. Back on the field, the droids took different fighting poses.  
  
"Excellent", Xander said, "this should be really interesting". The droids then rushed at him and began to attack him in synchronized fashion. They were doing the exact same moves as each other. But for each punch and kick that the duo threw, Xander was able to execute a corresponding block. The site of this amazing display of martial arts ability awed the Titans but completely hypnotized Robin. The fight was a flurry of punches and kicks that were only seen as flashes. This went on for a long time, until the droids were able to break through Xander's defense, sending him flying into the wall. The two droids then jumped up and came down, feet first, on Xander. They showered him with kicks until he was able to knock them off. He stood panting, leaning on the arena wall. Blood trickled down his cut brow.  
  
"I warned him", Cyborg said.  
  
"Wait", said Robin, "he's not done yet". Xander looked at the droids.  
  
"Is that all you got?" he said to the two droids. The duo took battle positions again and charged at Xander. Xander stood still as the droids got closer. Then, when the droids were close enough, they both attempted to punch Xander. Just when the fists were about to hit him, Xander caught the fists and smiled. He did a thrust kick to the droid on the right, sending it flying backwards into the wall and knocking it out. He let go of the other droids hand and it began to attack him furiously. But this time, instead of blocking and getting pummeled, Xander dodged the blows with rolls and back flips. His face remained serious as he continued dodging the droids attacks, until...  
  
"There!" he yelled as he rolled under a punch and knelt facing the left side of the droid. Before the robot could react, Xander charged his right hand with dark energy and punched it in the side. The robot flew into the wall, its side blown open by Xander's punch. The arena walls came down and the Xander sprinted off into the last area.  
  
When the pillars started shooting out of the ground, Xander stretched his wings and started flying through the area. When he cleared the pillars, the pit opened up and the platforms appeared. Xander landed and began running ninja-style across the platforms. He cleared the pit and started flying again. He flew all the way to the finish line where he rolled on the ground out of exhaustion. The Titans went up to him.  
  
"Hey Xan!" Cyborg said, "That was freaking awesome! High five!"  
  
"Settle for low five?" Xander said as he lay on the ground. He put his hand up and Cyborg gave him a low five.  
  
"Xander, that was an amazing run", said Starfire, "you did very well".  
  
"Yeah", Robin said, "That was mind-blowing! You gotta teach me how to fight like that!"  
  
"Let me catch my breath first", Xander said jokingly, "and thanks for the congratulations"  
  
"You deserve it, right Beast Boy?" said Robin. He looked around and saw Beast Boy staring at the ground. "Yo, Beast Boy" Robin said. Beast Boy woke up from his zoning out-ness.  
  
"Oh...sorry. Yeah Xan! That was the most bad-ass thing I've ever seen!" Beast Boy said.  
  
"Something on your mind, BB?" Cyborg asked.  
  
"No, I'm cool", he replied with a smile. It was then that Raven floated over.  
  
"Good job, Xan", she said. If her hood weren't on, everyone would've seen her blush.  
  
"Thanks" Xander replied. He started to get up when Cyborg held out a hand and helped him up.  
  
"Well, that was loads of fun", Xander said, "Can I go again?"  
  
"No way!" Cyborg yelled, "You totally wrecked it!"  
  
"You said I could" Xander replied calmly.  
  
"Yeah, Cy", Robin said, "you did".  
  
"I didn't think he'd do it so much", Cyborg said, "oh well...I DID say he could. Guess I underestimated you".  
  
"Most people do", Xander said. He walked back to the rock were he put Akujin down and picked up his sword. After Cyborg had the course returned under ground, the Titans began to walk back to the tower, joking and laughing. Raven stayed behind and stared into the sunset. Beast Boy slowly walked up behind her.  
  
"Hey, Rae," he said, "I just wanna say...uh...well...I just gotta say...I'm sorry". Raven didn't look back. "I know you're mad at me. You have every right to be mad at me. I know that I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for being what I am. I'm really sorry. If you never forgive me, that'd be fine. Just know that...I'm sorry". He began to walk away.  
  
"Wait", Raven said, "I'm...sorry, too. I know that I'm hard on you with all my insults. I'm sorry for that. I know that I go too far sometimes. I should be the one apologizing". Beast Boy turned around slowly.  
  
"Well, you wouldn't have to worry about apologizing if I didn't take everything seriously", he said. "It wasn't entirely your fault though, Rae," Beast Boy said, "I had a lot on my mind and I...I was just being an ass...I got mad at you for no reason...I'm sorry"  
  
"Still, I know I gotta cut down on the insults" she replied, "I'll try to cut down. For our...friendship." Those last few words shocked Beast Boy and put a smile on his face.  
  
"So...you're not mad anymore?" Beast Boy asked. Raven gave the best smile she could and nodded. The two continued to watch the sunset, their feelings for each other stronger than ever. But amidst all the feelings she had for Beast Boy, Raven couldn't stop thinking about Xander. The way she cheered for him on his run. She couldn't possibly like him, she loved Beast Boy. Right?  
  
That was the end of chapter 5. Sorry I took so long to update. Stay tuned for chapter 6. Xander's old enemies start to reappear. How will this affect his new life? Read and Review. 


	6. A Trip to the Museum

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans...........why are you still reading this? I have nothing else to say! Read the story! Stop wasting time!  
  
I have returned! Sorry my updates are taking so long. Apologies to anyone who read the story and the words were a little bunched up. I'm not sure what the problem is. It's happened before (as most of you know) but this time I know that it wasn't because of something I did. While I ponder on this, enjoy the 6th chapter of my story. HOOAH!  
  
Chapter 6: A Trip to the Museum  
  
It was another early morning. The sun had just risen and the morning dew had gathered on the grass outside the tower. The sound of chirping birds greeting the arrival morning was the only thing that could be heard over the heavy pounding of the waves on the rocks.  
Xander stood alone on one of the rocks by the water. He felt the spray of water on his face as another wave hit the rock. He was wearing black jogging pants and a white shirt that had the sleeves cut off. His black wings were in a folded rest position on his back and Akujin was holstered on his belt. One could tell from the sweaty shirt and the finely cut rocks behind Xander that he had been training for a long time. For a long time Xander did nothing but stare out into the water. Suddenly, he spoke.  
"Can I help you?" he said. Raven stopped where she was, shocked and amazed.  
"How did you-" she asked.  
"I heard you coming", Xander replied.  
"I'm floating", Raven replied in a for-your-information kind of way.  
"Who says I heard foot steps", Xander said without looking back, "your heartbeat could wake the dead".  
"Whatever..." she said monotone-ly. Xander smiled and snickered at her disbelief.  
"So, Raven" Xander said, "what brings you out here so early".  
"I just felt like going for a stroll", Raven said, "and...to properly thank you for saving me".  
"I thought you already did?" Xander asked.  
"Yeah, well, I just...felt like I needed to say it", she replied, "I didn't think you heard me last time".  
"Like I said before, it's no problem", Xander said, "just another day on the job".  
"Oh, it was just another job..." Raven said, somewhat sadly.  
"Umm...yeah. Something wrong?" Xander asked.  
"N-nothing. Just...it's nothing", Raven replied.  
"Doesn't sound like nothing", Xander answered back.  
"Really, it's nothing" Raven replied, "I gotta go. Breakfast will be ready in 10, Xan. Don't miss it". Raven began to float away, a strange sadness looming in her mind.  
"Damn", Xander said, "I totally messed that up".  
'You got that right, Leonardo De Caprio', Akujin said amusingly. Xander turned to the direction that Raven had walked off to. He sat down on his rock and dropped his head in his hands.  
"Crap", Xander moaned, "crap, crap, crap."  
'Well, what now?' Akujin asked. Xander let out a big sigh.  
"Let's get breakfast".  
  
The aroma of freshly cooked eggs and bacon filled the tower. The Titans had gathered around the table for their breakfast. A buffet of breakfast was laid out on the table. 5-inch strips of bacon, towers of syrup covered pancakes, and three different kinds of sausages among other things covered the table. Of course, Beast Boy had his own tofu meals set aside for him. As always, Robin and Starfire sat together. Beast Boy was rocking impatiently in his chair as he waited.  
"Can we eat now?" Beast Boy asked.  
"We gotta wait 'til everyone gets here", Robin said. Just then Cyborg walked into the room.  
"See! Everyone's here! Can we eat now?" Beast Boy whined, rocking harder. Robin began to get annoyed.  
"Not yet, we have to wait for"  
"Raven!" Starfire yelled out as Raven walked in, "A pleasant morning to you!"  
"You too, Star" Raven said as she sat next to Starfire.  
"Can I eat NOW?" Beast Boy whined again.  
"NOT YET!" Robin yelled, "Xander isn't here yet!"  
"Can't we start without him?" Beast Boy, "It's not like he's part of the team or anything!"  
"That may be true, but he's a guest", Robin said, "and who knows. He might just end up being part of the team". Just then Xander walked in. He was still wearing his jogging pants but had changed his shirt. Akujin was safely sheathed on his side, as always.  
"Whassup Xan!" Cyborg yelled.  
"Whazzup Cy!" Xander yelled back and gave Cyborg a high five.  
"NOW?" Beast Boy asked. Robin gave him a simple nod and Beast Boy immediately began stuffing his face full of food.  
"Bet I can eat more than you!" Cyborg said to Beast Boy.  
"You're on!" Beast Boy replied. Cyborg began stuffing his face full of food. Xander laughed and sat next to Robin. For the rest of the meal, it was just a lot of talking, mostly about Xander's powers. "My powers are elemental", Xander said. "What do you mean?" Starfire asked. "It means that my powers are drawn from the elements", he replied. "How did you get the ability to do such things?", Starfire asked as she leaned forward on the table to listen more closely to Xander, causing Robin to feel slightly jealous. "Well, it isn't really something that I obtained. Everything with a soul has energy. It's just a matter of unlocking it", Xander answered. Robin's eyes went wide when he heard this. "REALLY? CAN YOU SHOW ME HOW TO DO WHAT YOU DO?" he yelled. "Umm...well...I'm...can we talk about something else?" Xander said as he scratched his head. Despite Robin's constant whining, Xander refused to talk about his abilities anymore and quickly changed the subject to life in the city. Throughout the whole conversation Raven remained silent. She couldn't stop thinking about what Xander said.  
'Just another job, huh?' she thought. '...Why should I care? Why am I even thinking about him? Why should I care about what he thinks of me? Just because he was in my dream doesn't mean anything special! And just because I've been having that dream repeatedly surely doesn't mean-.'  
"Something bothering you, Rae?" Xander asked her politely, "I can call you Rae, right?"  
"Uh, yeah. I mean, no. I mean", she stuttered as she tried to recover from having her thoughts interrupted, "nothings bothering me, and don't call me Rae"  
"Why not?" he asked.  
"Just don't," she said in a threatening tone.  
"Okay, I won't" Xander answered. "So...you gonna tell me what's on you're mind?"  
"I told you, Xander, nothings on my mind", she replied in an annoyed tone.  
"Was it because of what I said outside?" Xander asked.  
"No. Now leave me to my thoughts", she said in a threatening tone. Xander backed away, a look of confusion and apology on his face.  
"Sorry." Xander said as he got up and left for his room.  
'Who is he to think he knows me?' Raven thought. As the other Titans watched all this, all they could do was look confusedly at each other. Beast Boy gave a little smirk.  
'Looks like I don't have as much competition as I thought' he thought.  
  
Xander walked into his room and picked up his towel out of his bag. He exited the room and began to walk to the bathroom.  
'That was pathetic' Akujin said.  
"What do you know? You're a sword!" Xander angrily replied to his sword.  
'Hey! I resent that! I'm a spirit IN a sword, jackass! Get it right!' Akujin yelled back. 'And even if I am a just a spirit, I can recognize a pathetic apology much as the next guy, and THAT was a pathetic attempt! Hell, anyone could see how pathetic it was from a mile away! In fact..."  
"AKUJIN!" Xander cut him off, "I get it! It was pathetic! You made your point! Shut the hell up already!" Xander then pulled the spirit sword off of his belt and threw him in the hallway by the bathroom door. Xander walked in and locked the door. The sound of the shower was soon heard.  
'He must really like her if just talking to her loose focus like that' Akujin said amusingly as he lay in the hall.  
  
The Titans were all in the main room. Cyborg was playing Need For Speed: Underground and Robin was listening to some music on his CD player. Starfire was on the couch watching Cyborg play and Beast Boy was looking through his collection of CDs for something to listen to. Raven was quietly reading a book on the far side of the couch, away from Cyborg's cursing.  
"Damn Skyline! Get out of the way!" Cyborg yelled as he was trying to overtake the skyline on the screen, but failing miserably.  
"Could you keep it down? Some of us are trying to do something productive", Raven said calmly.  
"It ain't my fault! It's that damn skyline! Agghh! No!" Cyborg's car had crashed into the wall on one of the turns and was left behind by the other cars. Cyborg growled angrily as he watched the skyline and the other two cars left him in last place. "That's it! I'm returning this stupid game!" Cyborg yelled as he threw down the controller.  
"Dude! Don't take it out on the controller! It's gonna break if you keep throwing it around like that!" Beast Boy yelled from the CD shelves. Raven began to get irritated and began clutching her book tighter and tighter. Just as she was about to explode, the alarm sounded and the overhead map of the city appeared on the giant screen.  
"What the hell is that!?" he screamed confusedly. He had just gotten out of the shower and changed into some new clothes. He wore blue jeans and a red t-shirt with a cross symbol on the back. He had brown steel-toe shoes on and wore open finger gloves on his hands. His short black hair was still slightly wet and wasn't spiked up as it normally was. The strands were drooping and water dripped from his hair to the floor.  
"Relax, drippy. It's just the alarm," Raven said as she put her book down and walked up to the big screen. Xander stood up straight and goofily scratched his head.  
"Oh. Heheh. What's the big problem?" he asked. Robin pushed the button on the screen and the faces of three familiar teens appeared on the screen.  
"The Hive." Robin said. Xander jumped over the couch and walked over to the screen.  
"The who?" he asked. "The HIVE. They're from some academy that trains and sometimes even genetically alters kids to become weapons of destruction", Cyborg answered.  
"We have fought them before", said Starfire, "there are a very strong group and are very difficult to beat".  
"How dumb are these guys?" Beast Boy asked, "How many times do we have to beat them into the ground before they stay down?"  
"Hey, one more wouldn't hurt" Cyborg said as he pounded his fists. "Where they at this time?"  
"It looks like they're at the museum," Robin said. He faced Xander.  
"You think you're up for another fight? We could really use your help" Robin said.  
"Sure thing. I'm always up for a good throw down" he replied. "Just tell me where I gotta go."  
"Here, take this", Robin said as he handed Xander a small device, "it's a digital map of the city. The GPS (global positioning system, for those who don't know) will tell you where you are. Just go to the spot on the map". Xander examined the device for a few seconds, put it in his pants pocket and gave a nod that sent drops of water flying onto Robin's face, causing everyone to giggle.  
"But go get dry first. Meet us in the garage" he said. "Titans, move out!" The others began to run out the door to the elevator. Just before she left the room, her head suddenly pulsated and pounded as she had a quick flashback of the dream she had with Xander in it. She fell to the ground clutching her head in her arms. Before she hit the ground Xander caught her.  
"You ok?" he asked.  
"Yeah", Raven said as she shook her head. She looked up to see Xander's face. She looked into his eyes and saw a deep compassion that seemed to be just for her. She quickly looked away with a blush. Xander merely smiled.  
"I can't have any of my rescued fainting here and there now can I?" Xander said. Raven's blush grew as he helped her stand up. "You sure you're okay?"  
"I'll be fine", she replied, "...We have to get going".  
"Yes, ma'am" Xander said jokingly. Raven headed for the elevator to meet the others and Xander headed for his room. "Wait. Raven!" he yelled. Raven looked back. "The wound on your shoulder hasn't completely healed yet, so try not to push yourself to hard in battle." Raven gave a nod before turning around and heading into the elevator. Xander walked into his room and picked up his leather, Matrix-style coat from on top of his bed and put it on. He then began to do an energy power up (DBZ style). A glow of hot energy surrounded him and began to pulse, instantly drying his hair and forcing it to spike up at the same time. "Energy charging. The ultimate hair dryer." He walked over to the table by his bed and picked up his motorcycle keys. He then picked up and Akujin placed it on his belt.  
'Where are we goin'?' Akujin asked.  
"Where else? To kick ass of course!" Xander replied with a smile as he ran out the door to the elevator.  
  
Mammoth sat on the pile of over turned cars, bored out of his mind. He had his elbow leaning on his knee and his head on his hand.  
"How long does it take to steal a freakin' artifact! This is pissing the hell out of me!" He pounded his free hand into the door of the car that he sat on. Just then a green star bolt hit him in the chest sending him flying off the pile. He looked up to be greeted by a charging sonic cannon.  
"How you been, Mammoth?" said Cyborg. "Long time no see."  
"Aren't museums a little too smart for you big guy?" Beast Boy said. Mammoth growled and began to get up when the cannon in front of him glowed.  
"Don't move big guy", said Cyborg.  
"I can handle that," Beast Boy said as he morphed into an elephant and sat on Mammoth. Mammoth let out a grunt as he was crushed by the tremendous weight. Just then, Robin, Raven, and Xander ran in through the hole in the wall of the museum. They stopped behind the wall. Robin peered into the next room, which was the ancient artifact exhibit. There, he saw two familiar faces. Gizmo was hacking into a soda machine and Jinx was wrapping something up in a cloth. What it was, he couldn't tell. Just then, Jinx stood up with the cloth under her arm.  
"Let's go. We got what we came for", she said.  
"Just a minute! I've almost...YEAH!" Gizmo cheered as a soda popped out of the machine. Gizmo triumphantly picked up the drink and began to guzzle it down. As he and Jinx began to walk out of the museum through the hole, the broken pieces of the wall rose up from the ground and fixed themselves back in place. They looked behind them and saw the Titans and some new kid standing by the entrance they had just come out of.  
"Sorry. But you aren't going anywhere" Raven said.  
"If you wanted to learn about ancient history so badly, you should've stuck with the tour. It's a lot less painful" Robin said while cracking his knuckles. Xander stood behind him wearing his long black coat with the hood up.  
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Teen Butt-munchers. Who's your new friend? The Hooded loser?" Gizmo teased as his robotic legs activated, popping out of his backpack.  
"'Butt-munchers'?" said Xander, "That was the crappiest insult that I've ever heard. In fact, it was so pathetic; it doesn't even deserve to be called an insult! That sucked ASS!!"  
"Shut up!" Gizmo yelled angrily. Jinx carefully put the covered artifact down.  
"Get as many new friends as you want, Titans," Jinx said, "you're still no match for us."  
"Don't be an idiot Jinx. We've taken you down before. Today you're outnumbered and Mammoth isn't coming. Give up and we promise to only leave small bruises." Robin replied.  
"Is that what you think?" Jinx said before letting out a laugh. Suddenly, 10 muscular specters materialized out of the shadows behind her. Right after that, Cyborg flew in through the newly re-built wall and crashed into one of the fossil exhibits. Soon after he flew in, Beast Boy was also thrown in, followed by Starfire. Robin and Raven ran to the others to help while Xander took a ready position with his sword. Mammoth came charging in, making the whole in the wall even bigger. Behind him were 30 more muscular specters.  
"Say hello to our little friends. They're called, 'Dreadnaughts' (pronounced dred-nots)", Jinx said with a smile "Still think we're outnumbered?". The others were now back on their feet and staring down the bulky shadows. The creatures each stood at about 6 feet and had bodies that looked similar to Cinderblock's. Like the soldiers specters, they were completely black and had glowing yellow eyes. Their heads were similar to the soldiers heads (heartless-style heads from kingdom hearts 2), only larger and without any antenna.  
"Robin" Xander said, breaking the silence, "I'll handle the shadows. You guys deal with the three stooges".  
"No way. You could get hurt. We'll take them on together." Robin answered.  
"These aren't the same ones from the bridge. They're as strong much stronger and take a little longer to beat . If they aren't gotten rid of, they'll be too big of a nuisance. I'll draw their attention away from you guys so you can take down the HIVE" Xander replied. After a few seconds of hesitation, Robin agreed and turned to the other Titans.  
"You think you can stop them, Loser?" Gizmo yelled at Xander. "They'll crush you in seconds! Go ahead and try, mucus-brain!"  
"Don't you worry your pathetic, bad-insult making mouth Wee Man" Xander replied while he charged up and put his hood down, revealing his short black hair and glowing blue eyes, "I'll do more than that."  
"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled. The Titans and Xander immediately charged at the HIVE.  
"Crush 'em" Jinx said calmly. The dreadnaughts all charged at the Titans in a single line. But before the two sides could meet, Xander swung Akujin horizontally, sending a black blade of energy that hit the line of specters and sent all 40 of them flying out of the museum. Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth's eyes went wide in shock. What the hell just happened? Who was this guy? They looked back at the charging Titans just as Xander flew past them and out of the museum.  
"Let's go you genetic freaks!" Cyborg yelled as he began to charge up his cannon.  
"Attack Pattern Theta!" Jinx yelled out. Gizmo launched a barrage of smoke bombs at the Titans, shrouding the whole room in smoke and stopping the Titans in their tracks. They covered their mouths as they struggled to see through the smoke.  
"Beast Boy!" Robin yelled out.  
"Way ahead of you!" BB replied as he morphed into a pterodactyl and beat the smoke away with his wings. As the smoke cleared, the Titans saw that their three nemeses had disappeared.  
"Where have they gone?" asked Starfire. Just then, they heard a strange beeping sound beneath them. They looked down to see a small blinking device. It didn't take long to figure out what it was.  
"Damn! A bomb! Everyone MOVE!" Robin ordered. But just as they were running away, they heard Jinx voice.  
"Leaving so soon? We just got started!" The Titans looked up and there was Jinx, hanging on the ceiling by a wire connected on her belt holding the clothed artifact under her right arm. She fired off some Hex energy, causing the ground under the Titans to become weak and fragile. Immediately after that, Mammoth and Gizmo appeared behind them. Gizmo fired a volley of missiles at the floor and Mammoth pounded the ground. The floor caved in and a deep hole formed in the museum. The Titans fell in the hole, together with the bomb and the rubble. Beast Boy attempted to fly out, as did Raven and Starfire while carrying Robin and Cyborg. But before they could get anywhere, Gizmo fired a heavy metal web that caught the Titans and dragged them back to the bottom of the hole. Jinx got down from the ceiling and Gizmo fired a volley of missiles, causing the roof to come falling into the hole. The three teenage villains stood in front of the hole, smiling at their achievement.  
"Now all we got to do is wait for the boom and bring that stupid...whatever it is...back to that big dark guy", Gizmo said. They waited. 20 seconds passed and there was still no boom.  
"You did set it to, right?" Mammoth asked Gizmo.  
"I'm pretty sure I did" Gizmo said as he scratched his head. Suddenly, a large black telekinetic ball rose out of the rubble. The ball slowly came down in front of the HIVE and opened, releasing the Titans. Robin stepped forward with the bomb in his right hand, held it up to them and crushed it.  
"But how! No one can deactivate my bombs!" Gizmo said.  
"First time for everything" Robin said amusingly "Now are you three gonna give up?"  
"Or do we have to beat the crap out of you guys AGAIN?" BB asked.  
"Don't worry" Jinx said as she again carefully put the artifact back down "we won't waste anymore of your time. Attack Pattern Phi!" The three of them charged the Titans in a line.  
"Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, and the Titans split up as they prepared to attack the HIVE.  
  
Xander was successful in getting rid of 20 of the dreadnaughts, but it had been even tougher than he thought. They were stronger than he remembered and had managed to hit him more than he'd expected. He had taken his coat off and was now staring down the other 20 dreadnaughts that had surrounded him. He held Akujin in his right hand and his black wings were slowly beating on his back. Blood slowly trickled down his forehead and into his mouth. The metallic taste was one that he hadn't tasted in a long time.  
"Almost forgot how my blood tasted", Xander said to himself. The dreadnaughts slowly began to close in on him. He looked around him, carefully watching each of the shadow creatures' movements. Suddenly, the muscular creatures began to run towards him, arms outspread and ready to grab the wing knight and tear him limb from limb. Xander looked directly at the dreadnaught he was currently facing.  
"Here goes nothing", he said. He let out a yell and ran at the dreadnaught he was facing. Just before he was about to hit the creature, he slid under the shadow and did a sweeping kick, tripping it. Xander plunged his sword into the creature's chest, killing it. He quickly pulled the sword out and absorbed the dreadnaught's body. He then flew up to avoid the other charging dreadnaughts and began charging up energy in his left hand. he then did a dive bomb back and punched the ground with his left hand, creating a shockwave that caused the dreadnaughts to trip and fall. Xander flew back up and faced his palm at them. A black energy ball appeared in the center and 10 dark disks flew out. Xander pointed down and the disks flew down to the fallen creatures. Each disk stopped over one dreadnaught and began firing energy beams at that one target. Each dreadnaught that was shot was destroyed. The disks then disappeared, leaving only the floating darkness that was once the dreadnaught's bodies. Akujin absorbed the darkness as Xander slowly flew back down. The remaining dreadnaughts got back up and stared angrily at Xander. He spread his wings and took a battle stance as he prepared to face off with the last of the creatures.  
'Down to nine', Akujin said.  
"Lucky us", replied Xander sourly.  
  
That is the end of chapter 6. again, sorry it took so long. A million apologies. Please be patient for chapter 7. until then, my friends, I bid you farewell. (gets up, steps away from computer, and disappears). - Angrydude 


	7. An Angry Reunion

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans (you know, I'm getting really tired of writing disclaimers).

Hey everybody! Hope you guys liked chapter 6. I got a couple of reviews about Xander, and I'm kind of confused as to what a Mary Sue is. I'll try to fix the story to, but don't expect too much change. This is my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Chapter 7:

Two figures stood atop one of the buildings a few blocks away from the museum. One of them wore a white t-shirt and a red vest. He also wore brown cargo pants and brown leather shoes. He had green eyes and long white hair that went down to his ears (like Dante's hair from Devil May Cry). However, the man wasn't old. He was young, looking to be in his early twenties. The other wore a blue hooded jacket with a red dragon design on the back. The hood was up and covered the man's face. He wore black jeans and the same brown leather shoes as the other guy.

"What the hell is taking those kids so damn long! 'The best the money can buy' my ass they are!! Bunch of bullshit advertising if you ask me!" the hooded one yelled, "This was supposed to be a simple job! It's been 10 minutes already!"

"Well, the Titans did join up with the wing knight," replied the other calmly, "one could expect them to be a bit off schedule".

"This isn't just off schedule, this is flat out too damn long!" the hooded one yelled back, "we gave those little freaks 40 dreadnaughts! Forty frickin' dreadnaughts! Not even that winged wannabe Xander Blade can take out forty muscle-bound specters!"

"You underestimate him way too much, Silo", replied the other man, "he's not as weak as you think."

"Tch, whatever", Silo replied as rolled his eyes, "you and I both know that he's just some punk ass kid who got lucky and was granted the powers of a wing knight. He's nothing but a cheap imitation. Against me...against any of us...he's just a weak little maggot! Hardly even worth the time or the trouble!"

"You'd best watch your ego, Silo", the other replied in his constantly calm voice.

"Yeah, yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah", responded the other arrogantly, "Listen, Thorne, I'm bored as hell out here and I'm tired of listening to you, so I'm gonna get the hell outta here. Go help those kids or we'll have our asses handed to us on a silver platter". Just then, two large wings appeared on his back. They were sliver metallic wings that looked like blades. Silo spread his wings and jumped off the building, quickly pulling back up and flying off into the distance. The other man let out a sigh and turned in the direction of the museum. Two light brown dragon wings energized on his back. He jumped off the building and flew off towards the museum.

-Back at the museum-

Inside the museum, the Titans were winning the fight and just about had the HIVE beaten. Cyborg was squaring off with Mammoth and had him on the run. Cyborg was punching mammoth furiously, and all he could do was slowly back away and defend against Cyborg's attacks. Gizmo was firing round after round of machine gun bullets to fight off Robin and Beast Boy, who were closing in on him really fast. He slowly backed up as he was firing, but stopped when he backed into the wall. BB morphed into a tiger and pounced at Gizmo, but Gizmo rolled out of the way and fired an energy net, trapping Beast Boy and electrocuting him. Beast Boy began morphing into various animals as he struggled to get out of the net, but to no avail.

"Ha ha! Got ya snot muncher!" Gizmo yelled, but was suddenly greeted by Robin's foot, hitting him in the face and sending him flying into the wall. He immediately got back up on his robot spider legs and fired a volley of missiles. Robin began skillfully dodging each of Gizmo's missiles. When the last missile was headed his way, Robin sidestepped out of the way at the last second, grabbed the missile and threw it back at Gizmo. Gizmo attempted to jump out of the way, but the missile hit his robotic leg, causing him to come crashing down.

"CRUD!" Gizmo yelled out. He detached his robot legs and was about to activate his spare legs when Robin threw an electric birdarang at his pack, shorting it out. The spare spider legs, powerless and useless, went limp and Gizmo fell to the ground. The energy net that surrounded Beast Boy disappeared. He morphed into a tiger again and pounced at Gizmo. Gizmo rolled out of the way and began running away from the angry tiger. Robin threw a bolo at Gizmo and got him in the legs. Gizmo tried to get up, but Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla and jumped on Gizmo. Gizmo struggled and twisted as the huge ape held him down.

"Get off me you stupid monkey!" Gizmo yelled.

In a nearby room, Cyborg and Mammoth were duking it out. Cyborg delivered a powerful uppercut to Mammoth's chin, sending him flying into the wall and knocking him out. Cyborg picked him up and walked over to BB and Robin.

"Where's Star and Raven?" Cyborg asked. Just then, an explosion that could only be caused by a star bolt was heard. On the other side of the museum, Starfire was taking on Jinx. She was firing star bolt after star bolt, but Jinx dodged each one.

Jinx fired off some hex energy and the ceiling above Starfire crumbled and began to fall. Before the pieces fell on her, Raven was able to catch them and throw them at Jinx. Jinx merely smiled and leapt onto the pieces, using each one as a stepping-stone.

When she jumped off the last one, she did a front flip and landed on the ground. She ran towards Raven and delivered a volley of kicks. Raven blocked each one using a telekinetic shield, but the strength of the blows and the mental strain sent a sharp pain up her arm and caused the wound on her back to throb (the wound is on her back, slightly below her left shoulder). Raven lost focus and grasped her left shoulder. Jinx took advantage of the opportunity and kicked Raven in the chest, sending her flying into the wall. Jinx slowly walked up to Raven.

"Sweet, sweet revenge", Jinx said with a smile on her face. But before she could go any further, she was hit by a star bolt and sent flying into a dinosaur fossil. Starfire flew over to Raven.

"Raven, are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine Starfire. It's just my wound." Raven replied as she held on to her shoulder. She slowly got back on her feet. She looked over to Jinx, who was slowly getting back up. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven chanted as she took control of a nearby cable and wrapping it around Jinx.

"Hey! Let me go!" Jinx said as she struggled to get loose. Just then, Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg walked into the room, dragging Gizmo and Mammoth on the ground, who had been tied up in cables.

"Well, I guess that's that", Beast Boy said, "let's go check up on the new guy and get outta here. I don't know about you guys, but that fight got me hella hungry!"

"First we gotta drop these three off", said Robin. They then began to exit the museum. Just as they were leaving, Robin caught sight of the artifact that Jinx had tried to steal. He bent down and picked up the clothed object.

"Hey, Robin, you comin'?" asked Cyborg.

"I'll be out in a minute", he replied. Cyborg shrugged his shoulders and left with the others.

Xander silently sat outside the museum on the pile of cars Mammoth had made. He had stabbed Akujin into the hood of one of the cars and was using the reflection on the blade to see the gash on his forehead. He winced as he began to poke the wound.

'Don't poke it you idiot!' Xander ignored Akujin and continued to poke the gash. 'Are you listening to me?'

"Calm down No-Body!" replied Xander angrily. He then began to chuckle lightly. "Get it? You have no body. So you're Nobody! It's a joke dude!"

'Damn, you're even worse than the midget with the high tech backpack', replied Akujin, 'if I had eyes, I'd be rolling them right now'.

"Well you don't have any eyes, so why don't you just shut the hell-OWW!" Xander flinched as his hand slipped and accidentally scratched the wound, causing the spirit in the sword to begin laughing.

"Xander!" called Starfire. Xander looked behind him and saw the four Titans walking out of the museum. He turned, pulling Akujin out of the rubble as he went, and walked over to meet them.

"Dude, what happened to you?" asked BB.

"One of the dreadnaughts got in a lucky shot and slammed my head into that glass", he pointed to one of the shattered car windows with blood on the edges. It was then that Raven noticed a face imprint in the side of the same car door.

"I guess THAT was a lucky shot, too?" she said as she pointed. Xander scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled.

"Actually...that was the same dreadnaught". BB and Cyborg let out a couple of chuckles and Raven just shook her head at Xander's stupidity.

-Inside the museum-

"What could they possibly want with this?" Robin asked himself as he examined the strange case.

"They weren't stealing it for themselves", echoed a voice, "they were being paid to get it". Robin looked up at the sound of the voice, but saw no one. He began to slowly walk around the room, searching for the source of the voice.

"That which you hold in your arms is a dangerous force", said the voice, "if you know what's good for you, you'll drop it and leave".

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you're the ass who had the HIVE steal this for you", replied Robin as he continued to search around the museum, "and if that's the case, I suggest you just give up and surrender. Unless, of course, you'd rather be in a world of hurt."

"I'm not leaving without that case", replied the voice.

"There's only one way for you to get it", said Robin, "and that's if you take it from me".

"If you insist" Suddenly, Robin was knocked down by a punch that hit him across the face. The case flew out of his hands and slid across the floor. He looked up and saw that his attacker was a white haired man with a red vest and brown dragon wings tucked on his back. Robin retaliated with a sweeping kick, but the man back flipped and dodged the strike.

Robin did a Chinese get-up and rushed at the man. But when Robin delivered his punch, he hit nothing but air. The man had disappeared. Robin looked around and saw a blur of red running around the room and bouncing of walls at incredible speeds.

"How can he move so fast?"

"I'm not even trying, Robin", said the man, "it's your eyes that are much too slow" He then began to dash at Robin, striking him as he passed. Robin was repeatedly knocked around by the red blur and was eventually knocked down. Robin got back up and kept looking, but couldn't pin point the man's location. "How can you win if you can't hit me?"

It was then that Robin got an idea. He closed his eyes and stood still in the middle of the room as the man continued to dash around him, slowly closing in on him. Robin took a fighting stance as he waited for the opportunity to strike. He stood perfectly still until...

"There!" Robin immediately turned and did a high kick, but the man crouched and rolled, perfectly dodging Robin's attack. The man immediately retaliated by delivering a one-two palm thrust combo to Robin's chest. Robin staggered backwards for a few seconds before getting knocked out by a punch to the gut. His body became limp as he blacked out and hit the ground.

"Much too slow", said the man. He walked over to the case that Robin dropped and slowly picked it up. He put it under his arm before walking up to Robin. "You get points for trying kid. I'll give you that much". He then picked up Robin and headed out of the museum.

The Titans were cleaning up outside the museum. They had just finished moving the car pile and were now moving the other debris. A clean-up crew comprised of construction workers and construction equipment were also helping out. Starfire was throwing chunks of metal into a nearby dumpster when she heard someone walking out of the museum.

"Robin!" she called out cheerfully. No response. Finally when the figure stepped into the light, it turned out to be a white haired main in a red vest. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were-" just then Starfire noticed that the man, who stood 6 feet tall, held a knocked out Robin in his right hand by the neck and was dragging him on the floor. He also held a strange case under his left arm. "Robin!? What did you-"

"Hey, Star, what's with all the noise?" asked Cyborg. Just then the others ran over to Starfire and saw what all the noise was about. The man stopped walking and stood a few yards away from the titans.

"So you must be the Teen Titans", said the man in a calm voice. He looked at each of them with his calm green eyes, and smiled when he saw Xander. "What a surprise to see you again, Xander. We never thought you'd catch up with us". All the titans immediately turned and faced Xander, who remained standing firm and still, sword drawn out and gripped tightly, his eyes focused on the strange man.

"You know this guy?" asked Beast Boy.

"We've met", replied Xander in a low, angry tone. "His name's Thorne. Be careful, this guy is dangerous beyond belief".

"I don't care how dangerous this punk ass bitch is", said Cyborg, "if he attacked Robin, he's going down one way or another". The other Titans got the picture and got into battle ready stances. "Unless you want to leave her in a body bag, I suggest you put our friend down now". The man gave off a light chuckle at Cyborg's threat. Just then, Raven felt an enormous power. It was a strange power that seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. She looked to her left and saw where the power was coming from. A look of intense hatred was on Xander's face. Something inside him was reaching its boiling point, and every second of having to see the man only made it burn faster and faster.

"Kids today have such interesting threats", replied the man, "here, take your friend. I have no use for him". The man then threw Robin to the ground. "I have what I need. Now if you'll excuse me, I have better things to do". It was then that the two light brown dragon wings that the man had safely tucked on his back opened up. He turned and began to flap his wings. He jumped up and flew him higher and higher. The titans then ran over to Robin.

"Cyborg, is he...?" Starfire asked in a concerned tone.

"He's fine, Star" replied Cyborg. A look of relief replaced Starfire's concerned face. As the titans all leaned over Robin's body, Raven felt another power surge, this time it was stronger and almost made her fall over. She looked over to Xander, still standing in the same spot, and saw that his black, crow like wings had opened up on his back. His normally mysterious brown eyes (yes his eyes are brown) now revealed a tortured, angry soul. Xander stood in silent anger as he stared at the other winged man, gripping his sword in his right hand until...

"THORNE!" yelled Xander. The man stopped flying and turned around and looked down at Xander. The other Titans looked back in surprise at their angry friend. Xander then flew up at the man (Thorne) at high speed and punched him across the face with a left hook. Before Thorne could react to the attack Xander grabbed him by the neck and threw into one of the cars, causing it to crease and halve. The Titans looked on as Thorne stood up out of the wreck, virtually unscathed, and dusted himself off. He then quietly put the case from the museum down and faced Xander.

"I see you're still a loose cannon, Xander", said Thorne as he took a fighting stance and flew up to Xander. They then began trading blows, punching and kicking in mid-air. Both fighters fought hard, parrying and blocking each other's shots.

"Uh...anyone know what's happening right now?" asked Beast Boy.

"No, but I do know that Xander's gonna need some help", said Cyborg. "TITANS, G-"

"No!" yelled down Xander. He had grabbed and held Thorne's arms behind his back while he held his sword to Thorne's throat. "Don't waste time with me! I'll be fine! But you guys have to make sure that he doesn't get that case!" The Titans looked at each other in hesitation. "DO IT! WE CAN'T LET HIM GET THAT CASE!" Just then, Thorne threw his head back, catching Xander off guard and hitting his fore head. While Xander was disoriented, Thorne got his arms free. He then did a 180-degree spin and hit Xander in the stomach with a spin kick, sending Xander plummeting into the concrete. Thorne then flew down and began to repeatedly bicycle kick Xander's chest.

"What do we do?" asked Starfire.

"Starfire and I will help Zan. Raven, BB, go get the case. Titans, GO!" with Cyborg's last two words, the Titans split up to where they were told to go.

Thorne kept kicking Xander until he heard the "GO" command from Cyborg. He did a kick off of Xander's bruised body, back flipping through the air and landing on the nearby light post. He jumped down and ran towards the case he dropped, but when he saw Starfire flying towards him. She fired a volley of star bolts, but Thorne swatted them away as if they were paper balls. Starfire then tried to hit Thorne with her eye beams, but Thorne rolled to the side and fired an energy blast that Starfire just barely avoided.

"Surprise!" Thorne looked behind him and saw only Cyborg's foot before being knocked backed on his ass. He looked up and saw Cyborg cracking his knuckles.

"This next one is for Robin", he said as he delivered another right jab to Thorne's face. "This one's for Xander" he then did an uppercut that forced Thorne to stand. "And this one's because I just don't like you!" Cyborg threw a left hook, but Thorne caught his fist in his right hand and smiled.

"So you wanna play, huh?" Thorne said in a joking tone, "I can play." Thorne then delivered a powerful left jab that sent Cyborg flying. Luckily, Starfire caught him and set him down. She then flew at Thorne at full speed, but when she was about to ram him, he did a back flip and kicked her in the chin, knocking Starfire back. While she was disoriented, Thorne grabbed her neck and slammed her into the ground, knocking her unconscious. "I guess you guys aren't too good at this game".

"Leave them alone, Thorne". Thorne looked behind him and saw Xander slowly standing up.

"Stay down, Xander", said Thorne, "you're too weak".

"Says you", he then took a fighting stance while he held Akujin in his right hand. In response, Thorne stretched his right arm outward with his hand open and a 4 foot long spike shout out of his palm (think Barakka's blades in mortal kombat, only a spike sticking straight out of the palm). The spike was made of a light brown, rocky material, and had a very sharp tip. Thorne took his fighting stance before charging at Xander. He delivered a downward slash at Xander, but Xander blocked it. Thorne bounced back and retaliated with a horizontal slash to Xander's feet. Xander flipped back, but was once again on the defense as Thorne began firing energy blast after energy blast from his left hand at blinding speeds. Xander blocked each energy ball with his sword as he slashed at each one as it came at him with as much speed as Thorne was firing them. When Thorne stopped firing, both warriors immediately took their fighting stances.

"You've gotten good, Blade" said Thorne, "but the dreadnaughts have already done a hell of a number on you. You won't last much longer". Xander knew that Thorne was right. He could feel his ribs and arms aching. But he couldn't stop fighting. Raven and Beast Boy need more time to get to that case.

"I don't need to last long to take you down", replied Xander. He let out a yell and charged at Thorne, who followed suit and also ran towards Xander. Both ran with weapons drawn, ready to kick the living crap out of each other.

Beast Boy and Raven dug through the rubble as they searched for the strange case that Thorne had set down. Beast Boy morphed into a Gorilla and was moving debris left and right, and Raven was moving them telekinetically. They searched frantically as Thorne and Xander fought in the background. Finally, Raven found the case after moving an extra large rock out of the way.

"Beast Boy, I found it", she called out. He morphed back to his normal form and ran over to her. Just then, Xander was slammed into the spot that BB was just standing at 2 seconds ago. BB looked back in surprise and saw Xander lying in the rubble.

"You alright, dude?" he asked.

"I'm fine, BB, thanks", Xander replied, "you guys have to get that case out of here. Thorn MUST NOT get his hands on it!" Xander then flew back up to where Thorne was before he got slammed into the wall. BB turned to Raven.

"Raven, we gotta get that case outta here. Grab it and let's move!". Raven nodded. She picked up the case and started flying away, until she started to get an incredibly painful psychic headache. She collapsed on the ground as a strange, evil chant echoed in her mind.

"Raven what's wrong?" BB said concernedly. But raven didn't hear. The only thing she could hear was the chant as it played over and over and over in her head, getting louder and louder as it looped. She opened here eyes and looked at the case. What she saw almost scared her to death. She was looking inside the case. She saw a strange black stone with hundreds of moaning souls floating around it. The yelled and screamed at Raven, trying to get to her, but it seemed as though they couldn't escape the confines of the box.

"Raven! Raven! Wake up!" BB shook Raven as he yelled, but to no avail. She remained motionless as she stared at the strange case. BB finally got the clue and grabbed the case away from Raven, throwing it to the side. Raven then snapped out of her trance and faced Beast Boy. She stood up as she put her right hand up to her head.

"What happened?" BB asked.

"There's something...that case...I can't..." Raven's head then began to throb, cutting of her sentence.

"Maybe I should hold the case", said BB. Raven nodded and Beast Boy walked over to the case. But before he could grab it, a dark pool formed in front of him and a pair of yellow eyes stared at him. More pools appeared, surrounding Raven and BB. The owners of the yellow eyes, the Soldier Specters, then began to rise up from the pools. They all faced BB and Raven menacingly, hissing and waving their weapons through the air.

"That case shall belong to the masterrrrrr" hissed one of the creatures, "and anyone who interferes will be eradicated". They then began to close in on the two titans.

"Could this possibly get any worse?" asked BB. It was then that Xander was sent crashing into a light pole, knocking him out. Thorne then flew down by the specters and faced the two titans, spike drawn and ready to fight.

"You had to ask..." replied Raven.

-End

That's the end of Chapter 7. Sorry it's taking so long to update, but I have a lot of homework to do and I don't have too much time for my story anymore. Also, I'm writing a Kingdom Hearts story, so updates are really going to take a while. Just hang in there guys...hang in there...

PS: The scene change things are there because the document isn't loading the way I wan it to and I don't want any of you to get confused.


	8. Preview to Power

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Are you happy now? (Runs off screaming and crying like the chicken ass that he is).

Hey guys. The story's going through some tough times right now. Updates a far apart and I am having a hard time finding the time to write. I haven't been getting any reviews. Throw me a bone here, guys! Tell me what I'm doing wrong! If it's so bad that you want the story to just stop all together, tell me! A few words of feedback is all I'm asking. Also, as some of you may know, Xander has recently been called a mary sue. I've got a few hunches of what that is, but could you guy's give me some reassurance. Thanx.

Enough of my whining. Here's the story. Enjoy!

(From now on, means scene change)

Chapter 8: Preview of Power

Beast Boy and Raven stood back to back as they stared off with Thorne and the rest of the specters. The situation was looking grim and it didn't look like there was any way out.

"Don't fight", said Thorne in his calm voice, "you'll end up like your friends". BB had finally had enough. He morphed into a tiger and pounced at Thorne, but before BB could strike, a large pillar of rock shot out of the ground and hit him in the stomach. The blow from the rock sent him skyward a good 10 ft before he came plummeting down in his human form. The rock pillar then retracted back into the ground, and as it did Thorne was once again visible to Raven and BB. His eyes were glowing yellow, and his free hand (he has a spike coming out of his right hand remember?) was facing the ground, as if he was telekinetically controlling something. Raven caught sight of these signs as she helped BB up, and it was all too obvious.

"You…you're an…an Earth manipulator." She said. The glow in Thorne's eyes died down, returning to their normal state. He put his left arm back down and made the spike in his right hand retract back into his arm. He began swinging his arm in a circle and then began swirling his wrist, resulting in multiple cracks.

"Actually", he replied, "I'm an Earth Elemental. But it's basically the same concept…I guess".

"Well whatever you are", said BB, "you're not getting that case!"

"You have no idea what's in that case, yet you fight to keep it out of my hands" said Thorne.

"I know that something evil is in there", said Raven, "and that's all I need to know". Raven then telekinetically controlled some debris and threw it at the specters, taking out a big group of them. BB morphed into a gorilla and began slamming and bashing the shadows. The two fought fiercely, beating down specters left and right. While this was all happening, Thorne ran over to the case. But just as he was about to pick it up, a birdarang flew down and hit the case, sending it sliding across the ground and away from Thorne. Thorne was then hit by a barrage of star bolts before he was knocked back by a sonic powered uppercut. He looked up and saw Starfire, Robin, and Cyborg.

"Time for round two", Robin said as he drew his staff and got in a fighting stance.

"This is getting repetitive, kids" said Thorne in an irritated tone as he got up. The three titans charged him, yet he stood still. But before they could get close enough to hit him, Thorne took a powering up stance and began glowing. Thorne then released a large amount of energy all at once, resulting in an explosion that knocked the three back. Before they could retaliate or even recover, giant rock hands came out of the ground and held them down tight.

"I can't move!" said Cyborg. They struggled to get free but they couldn't get out of the tight grip of the rocks. Satisfied, Thorne turned to get the case for the umpteenth time. But a bruised and battered Xander stood in his way.

"Stay down Xander", said Thorne, " you won't last against me. You're too beat up. You can barely lift you're sword. Stay out of the way, and you just might survive"

"You know I can't do that", replied Xander angrily.

"Have it your way". Thorne then had the spike come out of his hand again and charged at Xander. Xander put his sword up to block the attack. As the weapons met, sparks flew and the warriors met eye to eye. Xander pushed Thorne back and began slashing furiously. Thorne was forced to retreat as he blocked each of Xander's strikes. As he was blocking, Thorne saw an opening and fired an energy blast. Xander was blown back by the blast and knocked off balance. Thorne delivered a flurry of kicks to Xander's chest and then did a thrust kick that sent Xander flying through the air and into a nearby car. Some nearby pedestrians were watching when Thorne rushed forward and lunged his spike forward. Xander flipped onto the top of the car and Thorne's spike pierced into the car door. As Xander landed on top of the car, he felt unbalanced and dizzy.

'Crap. I haven't had this hard a fight in a while' he thought 'I've been slacking off…'

'Damn straight you have' replied Akujin telepathically.

Thorne could see that his foe was getting weak. He immediately pulled the spike out of the car door and thrusted the spike at Xander's chest. Xander caught the spike with his left hand, just inches from his chest cavity. As he struggled to keep from getting stabbed he faced the pedestrians.

"Get out of here! It's not safe!" he yelled. They were hesitant at first, scared in their tracks. "I said get out of here! You might get hu-". Xander was interrupted when a specter jumped over the car and landed in front of the awestruck civilians. It raised its sword to attack, but it was surrounded by black psychic energy and was flung into the wall, knocking it out. As its body dropped to the floor, it slowly evaporated away like all the other defeated specters, leaving only the same small blue orb. The civilians looked around in confusion when Raven floated down in front of them.

"You heard him. You've gotta leave. NOW" ordered Raven in her monotone voice. The pedestrians were more than eager to comply as they ran for their lives.

BB finished off the last of the specters and looked over to Xander and Raven. Raven had just helped some people, but Xander was having trouble holding off Thorne. He quickly morphed into a tiger and pounced at Thorne. Thorne sensed the attack and stretched out his wings. He flew up before he got struck by the tiger's claws and landed behind BB. BB morphed into a rhino and faced Thorne. Raven floated down beside him, and Xander jumped down from the car and stood behind them.

"I must admit", said Thorne, "that you kids are much more of a challenge than I expected. In fact, this is the best fight I've had in a while. Sadly, I must cut our time together short". Thorne retracted his spike back into his palm and then began to charge energy in his hands. A look of mixed anger and worry appeared on Xander's face.

"BB! Raven! We have to strike before he finishes powering up!" Raven and BB nodded at Xander. Xander and BB charged at Thorne, while Raven telekinetically threw the wrecked car at Thorne.

"Too slow", said Thorne. Before any of their attacks could hit he punched the ground at full force and pillars of energy began firing out of the ground. One of the beams completely disintegrated the car that Raven threw and nearly singed BB and Xander. BB morphed into an eagle and flew upward and Xander followed suit. The two swerved and rolled through the air as more and more pillars of energy continued to shoot out of the ground. Raven generated a psychic shield to protect herself from the beams. Thorne slowly stood upright again as he watched the teens struggle against his attack.

Meanwhile, the other three Titans remained trapped by the giant rock fists that Thorne made. As they struggled to get free the beams kept shooting out of the ground, narrowly missing them by mere inches.

Beast Boy caught sight of them out of the corner of his eye and signaled to the other two. The three of them flew down to Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin, dodging energy beams as they went. When they got down, Raven created a shield that went around the whole group and protected them from beams.

"Get them free" she said "I'll protect us from the beams". Xander began slashing the rock fists while Beast Boy morphed into various different animals over and over again as he attacked the giant hands. Despite their efforts, the two were unable to even chip off a piece of the hands.

"It's not working!" said Robin as he squirmed in the giant grip.

"Perhaps you should try a new tactic," said Starfire. The shield began to shake as Xander and BB continued to attack the fists. BB morphed back to his human form in frustration.

"Dude, she's right! We need a new plan!" BB faced Xander "Come on, Zan! You've fought this guy before! These giant hands gotta have some weakness!" Then it hit Xander like a cruise ship.

"Stand back, I'm going to try something". Beast Boy obeyed and moved back so that he was against the wall of Raven's shield. Xander sheathed Akujin, and faced his palms towards the hands that held the three Titans.

"Xander, Beast Boy, what are you…?" before Raven could finish her sentence, Xander became surrounded by a black aura. A beam of black energy fired from his hands and covered the rock fists.

"Shatter!". At Xander's command the hands crumbled and fell apart, leaving the three unharmed. He then fell to his knees as he held his ribs in pain. "Raven, take us up…"

Raven immediately took the shield up. But just when they reached the ideal height, the beams once again began pummeling the psychic shield.

"Something's wrong!" said Raven, "I think the beams are beginning to pierce through the shield! I don't know if I can hold them back much longer!" The shield began shaking harder and harder as the beams kept hitting it, causing all the titans but Raven to fall down.

"Xander!" said Robin as he got back up, "How can we stop those beams?"

"I can make them stop" said Xander as he stood back up and faced Raven, anger once again on his face "open it up".

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"You heard me, I didn't stutter. Open the shield so I can get out".

"It's too dangerous"

"Unless you do, the beams will break through eventually and kill us all"

"But if I open up the shield" she replied "you'll die"

"Better me than all of you" he answered, "besides, it's not like I've got anything to lose"

"No, Xander, I won't do it. I'm not going to have your blood on my hands".

"Suit yourself", just then he drew Akujin and prepared to strike.

"What are you doing!" BB yelled. A smile appeared on Xander's face.

"Be sure to close it fast" he said "se ya guys later". He winked at Raven and slashed downward, slicing the shield open at the bottom. Xander immediately opened his wings and jumped through the rip in the shield.

"Close it quick!" said Cyborg. Raven closed it just as a beam struck the spot.

"That guy's insane!" said BB.

"Fool…"said Raven. 'But why am I so concerned?'

"Alright, Akujin" said Xander "time to go to work"

'Aye-Aye, Captain!' replied the soul in the sword. Xander hovered just below Raven's shield.

"Xander! Get back in here!" yelled Robin.

"Not before I finish this", he answered. Just then an energy beam flew straight at Xander.

"Look out!" yelled Starfire. But just when it seemed that the beam would hit him, Xander slashed the beam. It then shattered into many loose pieces of energy that were then sucked into Akujin.

'Tasty' he said 'Earth Energy always tastes so tender'.

"What just happened?" asked BB "where'd the beam go?"

"Apparently, Akujin absorbed the energy." said Raven.

"You're saying that Xander's sword has the ability to absorb energy?" asked Robin

"Wait a minute," said Cyborg "I saw Xander absorbing the bodies of the specters that he defeated. If Akujin absorbs energy…"

"Then the bodies of the specters are made of energy!" said Starfire.

Xander flew down at top speed, slashing and absorbing any beams that came at him, along with any beams that would hit the shield. He cut through the beams with speed and precision as he flew towards Thorne at top speed.

"Sorry, Xander", said Thorne, "but it won't be that easy". A tall energy shield surrounded Thorne.

"I didn't think it would be", replied Xander. He flew up to the shield and began slashing furiously. Cuts began to appear in the shield where Xander struck, but the shield closed up each of the slices quickly. Suddenly, all of the beams coming out of the ground changed their paths and swerved toward Xander. One of them hit him in the back and caused him to slam face first into the energy wall. The wall singed him and he recoiled from the barrier. He shook his head to recover, but that was all he had time for as more beams continued to come at him. He flew upward along the energy barrier as the beams followed uncomfortably close. One of the beams hit and singed his right arm.

"Ok, this has gone on long enough", he swiftly turned around and began slashing every beam that flew at him. Yet the beams kept coming, and they were only hitting stronger and faster. Some of the beams began to get past his furious defense. He continued to slowly lose control of the situation until finally, one of the beams broke past and struck him in the chest knocking him back. Another beam struck him and exploded as it hit. The rest of the beams rained on him while he was disoriented. The explosions from the beams covered Xander from the Titans' sight.

"I can't see!" said BB "What's going on?"

"Do you think that Xander is alright?" asked Starfire. Raven suddenly felt another power surge from within the cloud of energy explosions. She could sense the same great anger and sorrow, only this time it felt more powerful.

"I'M NOT DONE YET!" yelled Xander. He released a large burst of energy that clashed with Thorne's energy pillars and destroyed all of them. After sheathing his sword he faced Thorne, who was still shielded in his energy zone. Xander fired a large, powerful blast of black energy at Thorne's shield. The blast hit Thorne's shield and completely destroyed it. Xander charged up energy again and fired another powerful blast, this time headed straight for Thorne. Thorne also fired his own energy blast and the two beams collided. The resulting explosion knocked Raven's shield to the ground, shattering it.

"Everybody okay?" asked Cyborg.

"Mostly" said BB as he shook his head. They looked over to the battlefield and saw Xander and Thorne standing ten feet from each other. Both warriors were bruised and bleeding, but they both stood calmly, unfazed by the explosion.

"You were holding back the whole time", said Thorne.

"Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't", replied Xander angrily, "Does it make a difference?"

"Yes it does" answered Thorne "because in the time it took for you to get serious, Silo was able to get a hold of the case". Xander's eyes went wide when he realized that he had forgotten about the artifact. He looked behind him and saw a man wearing a hooded blue jacket holding the artifact under his arm. A sinister grin was visible under the man's hood as he chuckled lightly at Xander's shock.

"When the HELL did you get here!" yelled Xander.

"A few minutes ago, " replied Silo "I sensed that Thorne was using his erupting attack, and I came by to see what the body count would be. I was disappointed to find the he was just wasting it on your ass". Xander scowled and began charge energy again. Silo laughed wildly. "Do you really think you can challenge me, worm? You are nothing to me, not even worthy of eating the scum off the bottom of my shoe!"

"Shut up!" yelled Xander "I've heard enough from you!" He charged at Silo at blinding speed and threw a punch at him. Silo dodged left and delivered a karate chop to the back of Xander's neck, causing him to stagger forward. Before he could recover, he was struck in the back by another karate chop, which was immediately followed by a spinning back kick that hit him in the chest, sending him flying to the feet of the Teen Titans. Robin and Raven helped him up as he gasped for air and winced at the pain from his wounds.

"These guys are unbelievable," said Robin as he helped Starfire out of the rubble that was once the museum's parking lot. "It's as if I can feel the force of the punches from all the way here".

"That's their energy," said Raven, "every time they strike they put some of their energy into the blow, greatly increasing its force".

"How do you know this?" asked BB.

"Because I do it, too" she replied. Just then, the flapping of wings was heard. Everyone looked up and saw yet another winged warrior slowly hovering downward. This one had dragon wings that were colored a dark tone of green. He wore a brown leather jacket and a black inside shirt. He also wore gray cargo pants and had his right hand wrapped in a sort of bandage. He had long, spiked yellow hair that went as far as the base of his neck. His body was muscular, and he stood a good 6 feet tall; easily towering over the many others in his presence. He landed softly in behind Silo with his arms crossed and a look of irritation on his face.

"Not another one!" whined BB "Where are all these super-powered-birdmen coming from?" The man walked up to Silo and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around. Then he threw a right cross and punched Silo in the jaw.

"Dammit, Corona! What the hell was that for!" yelled Silo. Raven had to keep herself from jumping at the sound of that name.

'It's him', she thought, 'the other knight from my dream…the one that was supposed to kill Xander before he left…'

"You idiots are late!" replied Corona "do you have the artifact yet?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties up in a bunch", answered Silo.

"Well then why are you still here?"

"Pest control" said Silo. Corona looked towards Xander and the Titans, sneering angrily as he did.

"As much as I love watching this whelp squirm, Daemos needs that gem now", he said. "Hurry up and get the hell out of here…"

"Hang on, let me just grab something sharp so I can rip out his…" Silo was interrupted when Corona grabbed him by the throat.

"Listen to me you homicidal maniac! All of your time wasting and making us wait is pissing the hell out of me! Now get that gem back to HQ before I rip off that ugly 5-pound lump you call a head!" Corona let go of his neck, causing Silo to stagger back a bit and gasp for air. The steel winged knight sneered and recovered.

"Fine" said Silo reluctantly "You got a rifter?" Corona threw Silo a small, rectangular box. Silo gripped it and channeled energy into the box, causing it to glow. He tossed it to the ground and, in a small explosion, a black portal formed where the box once was. "See you on the other side, shit-tards", said Silo jumped into the portal with the artifact in hand.

Thorne walked up to the portal and took one last look at the titans before calmly walking in and disappearing. Corona began to walk towards the portal when a sonic blast flew past him.

"You ain't going anywhere, buddy." said Cyborg. Corona looked back at them angrily.

"And just what are you kids gonna do about it? In case you haven't noticed, you're outmatched and overpowered. It's impossible for you to win!"

"We've done the impossible before," said Robin as he drew his staff "it isn't as hard as some might think. Titans, GO!"

"No!" interrupted Xander "This is my fight! If you guys challenge him, you'll only get hurt!"

"Ummm, Xander…in case you forgot, you're a mess" said Beast Boy.

"He's right, Xander", said Raven, "you can't take much more punishment".

"Yes, Xander. Please do not worry", said Starfire, "we will handle the-"

"Starfire lookout!" said Robin. Too late. Corona had grabbed her by the back of the neck and was cutting of her breathing.

"All this talking is pissing me off!" said Corona.

"Let her go!" yelled Robin. He jumped up and swung down with his staff, but Corona grabbed it and threw him into a nearby light pole, causing the pole to bend. He was knocked out instantly.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" Raven slammed a nearby overturned car at Corona from above, trying to avoid hitting Starfire. Corona fired an energy blast from his free hand and the car exploded before it reached him. He threw Starfire at her and the two girls slammed into the wall. Raven shook her head lightly to recover from the blow, and saw a heavily gasping Starfire at her side. The alien girl was unconscious and had turned a very pale shade of white.

"Starfire! Starfire, wake up!" as Raven tried to resuscitate her friend, Corona slowly walked over to them, charging up energy in his hands. Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla and pounced on Corona, trying desperately to bring him down. But instead, Corona grabbed BB by the arms and slammed him hard onto the ground.

"Back off!" yelled Cyborg as he rushed at Corona. Cyborg threw a right jab, but Corona dodged left. He then threw a left hook, but Corona stepped back and avoided the hit. Then Cyborg threw a right cross, but instead of dodging, Corona caught Cyborg's wrist and instantly stopped the punch's momentum. A look of surprise and disbelief came upon Cyborg's face. In an instant, easy movement, Corona crushed his Cyborg's wrist like it was a twig and yanked off the rest of his lower arm. Cyborg winced slightly as he staggered back. Corona gave him no time to rest. He threw down Cyborg's arm and rushed forward. Corona then did a powerful uppercut that sent Cyborg 2 stories high before coming back down and slamming through the museum roof.

"Now, where was I…?" Corona looked back at Raven trying to wake up Starfire and a smile came across his face. "Ahh…now I remember".

Raven telekinetically took control of a large pipe under the ground and coiled it around Corona. Beast Boy was just getting up at the time and took the opportunity. He morphed into an ankylosaurus and slammed Corona with his tail. Corona crashed into the overturned car that Raven tried to smash him with earlier. BB morphed back to his normal form and ran over to Raven.

"You guys okay?" he asked.

"We're fine…" she replied, "but we need to get Starfire and the others some medical treatment soon".

"You stupid kids!" Raven and BB looked over to Corona and saw that he had broken out of the pipes and was holding the car that he slammed into over his head as if it was nothing. "I'll make sure your deaths are slow and very, VERY painful!". The winged warrior threw the car at them, but Raven was able to kinetically toss it aside. BB turned into a rhino and charged at Corona. The warrior opened his wings and flew upward just as BB was about to hit him. Corona landed behind BB and grabbed him by the tail, swinging him around for a while before throwing him at Raven. He morphed back to his human form just in time so as not to squash her. He crashed into her and the tow fell to the ground. BB shook his head as the two slowly stood back up.

"How are we gonna beat this guy?" asked Beast Boy.

"Let me answer that for you, changeling", said Corona, "you can't!". The two Titans were just barely able to react when Corona flew over to them. He delivered a swift right backhand to BB, sending him falling to the ground. He immediately turned and gave Raven a left elbow to the stomach, causing her to slump to the ground. Corona grabbed her by the hair and pulled her hair back so she was looking at him. Raven tried to fight back and threw a punch, but Corona swatted her fist away. He then squeezed the part of her shoulder where the scar from the drill bullet was. She flinched in pain as he kept tightening his grip.

"Even when the bullet is gone, applying the right amount of force and energy on the wound can still prevent you from casting your little magic spells"

"Get away from her!" yelled Beast Boy. He morphed into a raptor and pounced. Corona threw the dazed Raven to the side and caught BB by his mouth before slamming him into the ground and pinning him with his knee. Corona immediately elbowed BB in the abdomen, causing him to morph back to his human form out of breath and unconscious.

"Now," said Corona, "I believe I promised you a slow death…". He picked up a metal shard and prepared to start slicing up BB when suddenly…

"I don't think so!" Corona looked up, only to be hit in the face by a powerful kick that sent him crashing into the museum wall. He slowly stood up from the rubble of the former wall, shaking his head. As he looked up, he saw a bruised and battered Xander. he was still gasping from the attack by Silo and was just barely able to stand. Corona wiped his mouth of a small speck of blood that he believed dripped off of Xander. It couldn't be his blood. Xander couldn't possibly be that strong.

"You're becoming one hell of a nuisance, boy!" Corona flew headfirst at Xander, delivering a series of punches. Xander dodged each one, barely avoiding Corona's massive fists. After spotting an opportunity, Xander pushed Corona back with a shoulder tackle and quickly followed up with an energy blast to his chest. Corona skidded back a few feet but quickly regained his balance. Xander wasted no time and charged at him with a vertical-downward of slash with Akujin, but Corona caught the blade with his bare hand, catching Xander by surprise. The 6-foot tall warrior tossed the sword to the side and began pummeling Xander with strong punches to the abs, chest, face, and back. He finished off his merciless combo with an elbow to the back, causing Xander to crash face-flat on the ground. He then began to repeatedly stomp Xander's face into the ground.

"You should've just died when you were supposed to!" yelled Corona "You stupid, insignificant, useless piece of crap!". He his took foot of Xander's head and looked at the mess that was his enemy. Corona was slightly surprised to see that he wasn't as cut up as he should've been. It was no doubt the power of the wing warrior that was allowing him to take so much punishment, thought Corona. But regardless, of outer appearance, he was still in pretty bad shape.

"I think it's time I finally finished what I started two years ago", he said. Corona began charging energy in his hand and aimed it at Xander. Just when he was about to fire, he was hit in the back by a myriad of star bolts. He looked up angrily and saw Starfire hovering over him.

"Leave our friend alone, you slobber-mouth Flargknot!" she continued to fire more star bolts at him, but all they managed to do was make him angrier.

"Why you little-" Corona was suddenly interrupted when an explosive energy disk hit him in the back. He stumbled forward a few feet and was struck by a black, telekinetic talon. Corona was knocked back and was struck in the back of the head by Robin's staff and was then immediately hit in the face by a kick from Starfire. As he staggered back while grasping his face, a telekinetic talon grabbed him and slammed him into the ground. the talon held him pinned down as the three remaining conscious Titans approached him.

"Had enough yet?" asked Robin.

"You weaklings think you could hold me down!"

"No!" yelled Xander as he struggled to stand back up "You guys need to get out of here!" But it was too late. Corona burst out of the talon's grip in an explosion of green energy. The Titans were forced back by the explosion and again found them selves on the defensive. Corona Ran straight at Robin, punching furiously at him. Robin narrowly dodged each punch, waiting for an opening. He was able to spot one and threw a kick that connected with Corona's ribs. But the strike had no effect. Corona grabbed Robin's leg and held him upside down.

"Looks like I caught me a little birdie!" Robin retaliated with his mini bombs. But when the smoke cleared he saw that his bombs had no effect. Corona scowled and kneed Robin in the stomach, causing him to spit out blood. Corona dropped Robin, leaving him squirming on the ground in pain. Corona began kicking him around, laughing as he did.

"That is enough!" yelled Starfire. Corona looked behind him and saw the girls floating above him.

"Why don't you pick on someone who isn't rolling on the floor?" taunted Raven. Corona smirked and spread his wings. He began beating his wings and flew at the girls at top speed. Starfire and Raven immediately reacted by combining their attacks and fired a large beam of swirling green and black energy. The hit connected dead on and slammed corona into the ground, kicking up large amounts of dust and smoke.

"Have we won?" asked Starfire. Her answer came in the form of two energy blasts that shot out of the smoke, hitting both her and Raven and knocking them out of the sky. Starfire was knocked out and Raven was struggling to get up. Corona walked out of the smoking crater just as the girls hit the ground. He began charging energy and walked up to the two downed Titans.

"Decisions, Decisions" he said with a smirk, "who to kill first. What do you think Xander.". He looked over his shoulder to see the boy still struggling to stand. "Should I start with the alien? Or should I start with the psychic? You always did have a thing for dark-haired, dark-eyed girls" Xander's eyes went wide as memories rushed through his head, along with the fears of what he thought Corona might do next. Corona smirked. "You remember her don't you? You remember what I did to her."

"You wouldn't…"

"Oh, but I would!"

"You leave her alone! Get away from her you bastard!"

Raven attempted to telekinetically strike Corona, but he felt her focusing her energy and immediately stomped on the shoulder where her wound was, breaking her focus and stopping her attack.

"I think I will start with this one! In fact, why don't I re-enact that scene from two years ago! What do you say, boy?"

"Don't you dare Corona! I swear I'll-"

"You'll do what? Bleed on me until I drown?" Corona grabbed her by neck and pulled her up off the ground. He then began to very slowly charge energy in the palm of the hand he held her in, burning her throat. Exhausted and out of strength, all she could do was wince in pain as she struggled to breath. "Don't you just want it to end? It will only get hotter after all. If you want it to end, just give me a little hint. A scream, a yelp, a sob, anything. However, just know that I won't make it easy for you to beg". He began to chuckle as he tightened his grip and pumped up the heat.

But his laughter stopped when he felt a strong power behind him. It was growing fast and was incredibly strong. He looked back and saw Xander back on his feet. His head was tilted downward so that his face wasn't seen, but what Corona was able to see surprised him. Xander was surrounded by a black aura that was like fire. He slowly lifted his head, revealing that his pupils had change to a dark, blood red. The aura began to pulse, growing with each beat. Xander's black wings were spread to their maximum length. The ground beneath him was beginning to crack. Xander tightly gripped Akujin in his right hand and stared angrily at Corona.

"Let her go…NOW!"

End Chapter-

Phew! Finally finished after months of writing, writer's block, and laziness. Sorry it took so long (if anyone is still reading this story). Also sorry if it wasn't what some of you might have expected. I was getting tired and I just wanted to end the chapter. I'll try to update more often now. I promise.

I leave you with this beautiful quote from kung pow:

The Chosen One: His powers are greater then mine  
Mushoofasa: Yes, plus when you got hit with his iron claw you DID scream like a wussy.

Peace out and angriness forever. 

Angrydude5150


	9. Decision

I would like to personally thank the mysterious person who has been one of my most helpful reviewers. Few ever review as often as this person does and this person has allowed me to take a very good look at my approach to this story. And now that that's happened, I've come to the decision that this story is to clichéd and just is un-deserving of continuing to be written. I will attempt to re-write the story with the same main character, but with a lot of modifications here and there. I've also got some reforming of my writing ability to do.

Once again to that person that provided me with such great constructive criticism, I am not to sure what kind of person you are. I doubt that you are one, but if you are the kind of person that feels bad about this, don't. You were totally right. Your brutal honesty is a very big eye opener and is a very good quality. Then again, it may have just been that you were the only one who was telling the truth and everyone else was just turning a blind-eye to my crapiness. Hmmm…that's something for me to think on…either way, you were the only one who showed me the truth about my suck-ass-ity (hehehe, I made a new word). So thanks very much.

And to those few who truly liked my story, I was happy I could amuse you for a few minutes of your time. I'm sorry if you were expecting more, but I just need to do this. I know I can't please everyone, but the thing is that if I can't come up with anything more creative than heroic grand stands and uber characters that are too perfect, then I've got some re-tooling to do.

That's all for now. I'll start rethinking the story immediately. Either that or I'll try writing another totally different story I'll leave this old story here as a reminder to myself, as well as for anyone who finds it amusing. Anyway, I'll see ya'll later guys. Peace and angriness forever.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA:)


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